TallyBench / Week Number Calculator
// WEEK NUMBER CALCULATOR

What week number is it?

Enter any date to get its ISO 8601 week number, day of the year, and weekday.

ISO week number
Weekday
Day of year
ISO week-numbering year

What is an ISO week number?

ISO 8601 defines week 1 of a year as the week containing that year's first Thursday, with weeks running Monday to Sunday. This means the ISO week-numbering year can differ from the calendar year for a few days at the very start or end of January/December — for example, 31 December can fall in week 1 of the following ISO year, and 1 January can fall in week 52 or 53 of the previous one.

Why doesn't week 1 always start on January 1st?

Because ISO weeks always run Monday–Sunday and week 1 is defined by containing the first Thursday of the year, not by containing January 1st. If January 1st falls on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, it actually belongs to the last week (52 or 53) of the previous ISO year rather than week 1 of the new one — this is the most common source of "why does this say week 52 for a January date" confusion.

Do all countries use the ISO week numbering system?

No — ISO 8601 (Monday-start weeks, week 1 contains the first Thursday) is the standard across most of Europe and in many business, engineering, and payroll contexts worldwide, but the US commonly uses a Sunday-start week where week 1 simply contains January 1st. The same calendar date can therefore have a different week number depending on which system is used — this calculator uses the ISO 8601 standard.

Why does a year sometimes have 53 weeks instead of 52?

52 weeks × 7 days = 364 days, one short of a normal 365-day year (and two short of a 366-day leap year), so the leftover days have to go somewhere. A year has 53 ISO weeks whenever 1 January falls on a Thursday, or in a leap year, when it falls on a Wednesday — roughly 1 year in 5 or 6.

Worked example: 1 January 2027 is a Friday, so it belongs to week 53 of the 2026 ISO year, not week 1 of 2027 — week 1 of 2027 only begins on Monday, 4 January. Enter both dates above to see the ISO week-numbering year shift.