port 52.5.0 changelog to main

[alamb]

Which issue does this PR close?

• Part of Release DataFusion 52.5.0 (minor) Release (Apr 2026) #21078.

Rationale for this change

The branch-52 release work added the 52.5.0 changelog in #21407, and that changelog should also be present on main.

What changes are included in this PR?

This PR ports dev/changelog/52.5.0.md from #21407 onto main.

Implementation note: I used git cherry-pick -n of the merged branch-52 commit and kept only the changelog file, discarding the version and config changes that do not belong on main.

Are these changes tested?

This is a documentation-only chabge

Are there any user-facing changes?

Yes. The 52.5.0 changelog is now available on main.

[comphead]

Thanks @alamb
so version update is not required to be backported to main, only changelog?

[alamb]

Thanks @alamb so version update is not required to be backported to main, only changelog?

Yeah, I think given main is already at 53.0.0 it would be weird to try and change it to 52 🤔