diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index c873cc2..e4feeb9 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 # `bw2data` Changelog
 
+## 4.2.1 (2024-12-03)
+
+* Make `__version__` a tuple again to avoid breaking downstream libraries
+
 ## 4.2 (2024-12-03)
 
 * Don't try to look up attributes in reference product edge if node type is not "process"
diff --git a/bw2data/__init__.py b/bw2data/__init__.py
index de502d5..6d9e025 100644
--- a/bw2data/__init__.py
+++ b/bw2data/__init__.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
     "weightings",
 ]
 
-__version__ = "4.2"
+__version__ = (4, 2, 1)
 
 from bw2data.configuration import config, labels
 from bw2data.project import projects