diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2022-11-02-05-54-02.gh-issue-83004.0v8iyw.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2022-11-02-05-54-02.gh-issue-83004.0v8iyw.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..bd54d3eae8c908
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2022-11-02-05-54-02.gh-issue-83004.0v8iyw.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Clean up refleak on failed module initialisation in :mod:`_zoneinfo`
diff --git a/Modules/_zoneinfo.c b/Modules/_zoneinfo.c
index 1535721b026d1f..55975f4e269109 100644
--- a/Modules/_zoneinfo.c
+++ b/Modules/_zoneinfo.c
@@ -2652,8 +2652,9 @@ zoneinfomodule_exec(PyObject *m)
         goto error;
     }
 
-    Py_INCREF(&PyZoneInfo_ZoneInfoType);
-    PyModule_AddObject(m, "ZoneInfo", (PyObject *)&PyZoneInfo_ZoneInfoType);
+    if (PyModule_AddObjectRef(m, "ZoneInfo", (PyObject *)&PyZoneInfo_ZoneInfoType) < 0) {
+        goto error;
+    }
 
     /* Populate imports */
     PyObject *_tzpath_module = PyImport_ImportModule("zoneinfo._tzpath");