January 2026: Five Saturdays and a Record Tuna
January 2026 opened the year on superlatives. On the 5th, a single bluefin tuna sold at Tokyo's Toyosu market for about 3.2 million dollars, an auction record. Two days earlier, a full moon had lit the year's first Saturday. The grid underneath is generous: 31 days, a Thursday start, five Thursdays, five Fridays and five Saturdays. Count 22 business days and 9 weekend days across weeks 1 to 5. The year began with the counting already done.
The shape of the month
January 2026 runs 31 days, from Thursday, January 1 to Saturday, January 31. Because it opens on a Thursday, the first workweek lasts just two days, a gentle way to start your year. The month still pays five Thursdays, five Fridays and five Saturdays.
The Saturdays fall on the 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th and 31st. Sundays through Wednesdays appear four times each. Business days total 22, weekend days 9, across weeks 1 to 5. The new moon of the 18th brings the darkest mid-month night.
A record fish, then the gadgets
The superlatives came in a rush. On January 5, a 243-kilogram bluefin tuna sold at Tokyo's Toyosu market for 510 million yen. That is about 3.2 million dollars, an auction record. Then CES took over Las Vegas from January 6 to 9, putting artificial intelligence into nearly everything it could reach.
Nvidia showed Cosmos, its world-simulation model, and Samsung's Galaxy Z TriFold took best of show. The month's screens ran loud too. Avatar: Fire and Ash led January's box office with about 134 million dollars. Zootopia 2 and The Housemaid followed.
Then came the shock: on the 10th, sixth-tier Macclesfield beat holders Crystal Palace 2-1 in the FA Cup third round. It ranks among the biggest upsets in the competition's history. Between the tuna and the cup, January set its ceilings inside ten days.
Money and borders
Bulgaria adopted the euro on January 1, becoming the eurozone's 21st member. The lev retired after more than 140 years.
Money then moved on a bigger map. India and the European Union signed a free trade agreement in New Delhi on January 27. It covers a market of about two billion people, after talks that ran two decades.
Politics stayed busy around it. The United States completed its withdrawal from the World Health Organization on the 22nd. Denmark and its allies began a year-long deployment to Greenland on the 14th, named Operation Arctic Endurance.
A month of hard news
Other events ask for plain words. A bar fire in Crans-Montana, Switzerland killed about 40 people on January 1 and injured more than 100. On January 18, two trains derailed and collided near Adamuz in southern Spain. At least 46 people died, the country's deadliest rail crash since 2013.
On January 3, United States strikes hit Venezuela, and President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were taken into US custody. Delcy Rodriguez was sworn in as acting president two days later.
On the 26th, Israel recovered the remains of Ran Gvili, the last hostage held in Gaza. On January 31, a landslide collapsed the Rubaya coltan mine in eastern DR Congo. More than 200 artisanal miners were confirmed dead, with hundreds more feared. It was among the deadliest mining disasters on record.
Two workdays to ease in, five Saturdays to spend, a fish priced like a house. January 2026 introduced itself loudly, then let you get to work.