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When is Black Friday?
Black Friday falls on Friday, November 27, 2026.
About Black Friday
Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving in the United States, and it marks the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season. It began as a busy retail day after the holiday and has grown into one of the largest sales events in the world, with retailers offering deep discounts in stores and online. The name is widely linked to the accounting idea of moving from red ink, a loss, into black ink, a profit, on this day, though the true origin of the term is debated. The event has spread well beyond the US, and many UK, European and Australian retailers now run Black Friday sales even where Thanksgiving is not observed. The date moves each year because Thanksgiving moves, falling between November 23 and November 29.
The red-ink-to-black-ink story is the most popular explanation of the name, but the term is most reliably traced to Philadelphia in the early 1960s. Police there used "Black Friday" for the heavy traffic, crowds and shoplifting on the day after Thanksgiving, as out-of-town shoppers and football fans poured into the city for the Army-Navy game. Retailers tried to rebrand it as "Big Friday" in the 1970s, without success. Black Friday reached the UK fairly recently. Asda, the UK arm of Walmart, ran the first major UK Black Friday promotion in 2010, and the practice spread quickly to most large retailers despite the UK having no Thanksgiving. Many UK chains now run Black Friday week deals that begin on the Monday before, and by the early 2020s Black Friday had overtaken Boxing Day as the UK's busiest discount event of the year.
Frequently asked questions
Why is it called Black Friday?
The origin of the name is debated. The popular explanation is that it marks the day retailers' accounts move from red ink, meaning a loss, into black ink, meaning a profit. Historians more reliably trace the term to Philadelphia in the early 1960s, where police used Black Friday for the chaotic traffic and crowds on the day after Thanksgiving. The accounting story appears to be a later, more flattering reworking that retailers preferred. Both explanations are still widely repeated.
When is Black Friday?
Black Friday is the Friday immediately after the US Thanksgiving, which falls on the fourth Thursday of November. That puts Black Friday between November 23 and November 29, on a date that changes each year. It is followed by the weekend and then Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving. Although it began in the United States, Black Friday sales are now held on the same Friday in many other countries, even ones with no Thanksgiving holiday.
Is Black Friday a public holiday?
Black Friday is not an official public holiday anywhere, including in the United States. It is not a federal holiday, and shops very deliberately open, often early and for long hours. However, the day after Thanksgiving is a common day off in practice. Many US employers give it as a holiday or treat it as part of the Thanksgiving break, and some states observe it as a state holiday. So it is widely a day off without being an official national holiday.
How did Black Friday spread outside the United States?
Black Friday spread abroad largely through international retailers and online shopping. In the UK, the supermarket Asda, owned at the time by the American company Walmart, ran a major Black Friday promotion in 2010, and other retailers quickly followed. Online sellers, especially Amazon, pushed the date in many countries at once. Within a few years Black Friday sales were common across Europe, Australia and beyond, even though those countries have no Thanksgiving holiday for the date to follow.
What is the difference between Black Friday and Cyber Monday?
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two linked sales days around the US Thanksgiving weekend. Black Friday is the Friday straight after Thanksgiving and began as an in-store shopping event. Cyber Monday is the following Monday and was created in 2005 to capture the surge in online shopping when people returned to work. The split between in-store and online has faded as most shopping moved online, and many retailers now treat the whole stretch as one extended sales period.