A piston for an internal combustion engine has a piston head, a piston skirt, and a circumferential recess configured between the piston head and the piston skirt. The piston has a piston base body and a piston ring element. The piston base body has a crown region of a combustion bowl and the piston skirt. The piston ring element has a piston crown, a wall region of the combustion bowl, a circumferential top land, and a circumferential ring belt with ring grooves. The piston ring element has a circumferential cooling channel between the wall region of the combustion bowl and the ring belt, closed with a closure element. The piston base body and the piston ring element have a circumferential joining seam in the region of the combustion bowl, by way of which seam they are non-releasably connected with one another.