diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7a382885121..43f9d5aa62d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+## 1.21.0
+
 ## 1.20.0
 
 ### Dart VM
diff --git a/tools/VERSION b/tools/VERSION
index 62bd800a99f..ff9f90ac3e1 100644
--- a/tools/VERSION
+++ b/tools/VERSION
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+
 # This file is used by tools/utils.py to generate version strings.
 # The numbers are changed as follows:
 #
@@ -25,7 +26,7 @@
 #
 CHANNEL be
 MAJOR 1
-MINOR 20
+MINOR 21
 PATCH 0
 PRERELEASE 0
 PRERELEASE_PATCH 0