diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2e65d0b0..ac9439a3 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 kafka_exporter
 ==============
 
-[![CI](https://github.com/danielqsj/kafka_exporter/actions/workflows/ci.yml/badge.svg?branch=master)](https://github.com/danielqsj/kafka_exporter/actions/workflows/ci.yml)[![Docker Pulls](https://img.shields.io/docker/pulls/danielqsj/kafka-exporter.svg)](https://hub.docker.com/r/danielqsj/kafka-exporter)[![Go Report Card](https://goreportcard.com/badge/github.com/danielqsj/kafka_exporter)](https://goreportcard.com/report/github.com/danielqsj/kafka_exporter)[![Language](https://img.shields.io/badge/language-Go-red.svg)](https://github.com/danielqsj/kafka-exporter)[![GitHub release](https://img.shields.io/badge/release-1.5.0-green.svg)](https://github.com/danielqsj/kafka-exporter/releases)[![License](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-Apache%202-4EB1BA.svg)](https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html)
+[![CI](https://github.com/danielqsj/kafka_exporter/actions/workflows/ci.yml/badge.svg?branch=master)](https://github.com/danielqsj/kafka_exporter/actions/workflows/ci.yml)[![Docker Pulls](https://img.shields.io/docker/pulls/danielqsj/kafka-exporter.svg)](https://hub.docker.com/r/danielqsj/kafka-exporter)[![Go Report Card](https://goreportcard.com/badge/github.com/danielqsj/kafka_exporter)](https://goreportcard.com/report/github.com/danielqsj/kafka_exporter)[![Language](https://img.shields.io/badge/language-Go-red.svg)](https://github.com/danielqsj/kafka-exporter)[![GitHub release](https://img.shields.io/badge/release-1.6.0-green.svg)](https://github.com/danielqsj/kafka-exporter/releases)[![License](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-Apache%202-4EB1BA.svg)](https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html)
 
 Kafka exporter for Prometheus. For other metrics from Kafka, have a look at the [JMX exporter](https://github.com/prometheus/jmx_exporter).
 
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index bc80560f..dc1e644a 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-1.5.0
+1.6.0