Black Friday 2026 falls on Friday, 27 November 2026, and Cyber Monday is Monday, 30 November 2026. These two days bracket the biggest shopping weekend of the year. Here's the full 2026 holiday-shopping calendar and why these dates move every year.
Planning around the dates? Count down to any of them with our live countdown tool, or see the whole month on the November 2026 calendar.
Black Friday 2026: the key dates
| Day | Date 2026 | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Thanksgiving (US) | Thursday, 26 November | US public holiday — sales often start tonight |
| Black Friday | Friday, 27 November | The traditional start of holiday shopping |
| Small Business Saturday | Saturday, 28 November | Focus on local/independent shops |
| Cyber Monday | Monday, 30 November | The biggest online-sales day of the year |
Why is Black Friday always the day after Thanksgiving?
Black Friday isn't a fixed date — it's tied to Thanksgiving, which in the United States is always the fourth Thursday of November. The day after became the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season, so "Black Friday" lands on the fourth Friday of November (or, more precisely, the Friday after the fourth Thursday).
In 2026 that's 27 November. Because the date floats, it can fall anywhere between 23 and 29 November depending on the year.
The name "Black Friday" refers to retailers' accounts moving from the red (loss) into the black (profit) during this huge sales day.
Cyber Monday 2026
Cyber Monday — the Monday after Thanksgiving, 30 November 2026 — was created in the mid-2000s to capture the surge of online shopping when people returned to work (and faster internet connections) after the long weekend. It's now consistently one of the largest single days for e-commerce worldwide.
Black Friday around the world
What began as a US tradition is now global:
- United Kingdom, Germany, France, Brazil and many others run major Black Friday sales on the same Friday.
- Some retailers stretch it into "Black Friday Week" or even the whole month of November.
- In countries that don't celebrate Thanksgiving, Black Friday is purely a shopping event with no holiday attached.
Because the sales now run worldwide and online, the start time depends on the retailer's time zone — our world clock and time zone converter are handy when a sale "drops" at midnight in another country.
The wider holiday shopping season 2026
| Milestone | Date 2026 |
|---|---|
| Halloween | 31 October |
| Thanksgiving (US) | 26 November |
| Black Friday | 27 November |
| Cyber Monday | 30 November |
| Free Shipping Day (typical) | mid-December |
| Christmas Day | 25 December |
| Boxing Day sales (UK/Commonwealth) | 26 December |
Quick answers
When is Black Friday 2026? Friday, 27 November 2026 — the day after US Thanksgiving.
When is Cyber Monday 2026? Monday, 30 November 2026.
Why does Black Friday change date each year? It's always the day after Thanksgiving, which is the fourth Thursday of November — so the date shifts every year between 23 and 29 November.
Is Black Friday a public holiday? No. It is not an official public holiday in the US, though many people take the day off because Thanksgiving is a holiday the day before.