diff --git a/src/wp-includes/date.php b/src/wp-includes/date.php
index 2e903a2518..9f64747bb3 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/date.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/date.php
@@ -355,10 +355,11 @@ class WP_Date_Query {
 
 		// Weeks per year.
 		if ( isset( $_year ) ) {
-			// If we have a specific year, use it to calculate number of weeks.
-			$date = new DateTime();
-			$date->setISODate( $_year, 53 );
-			$week_count = $date->format( "W" ) === "53" ? 53 : 52;
+			/*
+			 * If we have a specific year, use it to calculate number of weeks.
+			 * Note: the number of weeks in a year is the date in which Dec 28 appears.
+			 */
+			$week_count = date( 'W', mktime( 0, 0, 0, 12, 28, $_year ) );
 
 		} else {
 			// Otherwise set the week-count to a maximum of 53.