diff --git a/tokio-util/CHANGELOG.md b/tokio-util/CHANGELOG.md
index 9751b0c8c07..36436b8fea8 100644
--- a/tokio-util/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/tokio-util/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,28 @@
+# 0.7.18 (January 4th, 2026)
+
+### Added
+
+- io: add `tokio_util::io::simplex` ([#7565])
+
+### Changed
+
+- task: remove unnecessary trait bounds on the `Debug` implementation for `JoinQueue` and `AbortOnDropHandle` ([#7720])
+
+### Fixed
+
+- deps: bump `tokio` to `1.44.0` ([#7733])
+
+### Documented
+
+- io: document the default capacity of the `ReaderStream` ([#7147])
+- sync: fix a typo in the docs of `PollSender::is_closed` ([#7737])
+
+[#7147]: https://github.com/tokio-rs/tokio/pull/7147
+[#7565]: https://github.com/tokio-rs/tokio/pull/7565
+[#7720]: https://github.com/tokio-rs/tokio/pull/7720
+[#7733]: https://github.com/tokio-rs/tokio/pull/7733
+[#7737]: https://github.com/tokio-rs/tokio/pull/7737
+
 # 0.7.17 (November 2nd, 2025)
 
 The MSRV is increased to 1.71.
diff --git a/tokio-util/Cargo.toml b/tokio-util/Cargo.toml
index c11e9ef54aa..02efd8f26bd 100644
--- a/tokio-util/Cargo.toml
+++ b/tokio-util/Cargo.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ name = "tokio-util"
 # - Remove path dependencies
 # - Update CHANGELOG.md.
 # - Create "tokio-util-0.7.x" git tag.
-version = "0.7.17"
+version = "0.7.18"
 edition = "2021"
 rust-version = "1.71"
 authors = ["Tokio Contributors <team@tokio.rs>"]