diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 94bc33536209..f027116849f7 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
     # For python2.6 we have to require argparse since it
     # was not in stdlib until 2.7.
     requires.append('argparse>=1.1')
-
+    requires.append('simplejson')
 
 setup_options = dict(
     name='awscli',
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
     extras_require={
         ':python_version=="2.6"': [
             'argparse>=1.1',
+            'simplejson'
         ]
     },
     license="Apache License 2.0",