Wordpress - the_date() not working

See this special note about using the `the_date'

SPECIAL NOTE: When there are multiple posts on a page published under the SAME DAY, the_date() only displays the date for the first post (that is, the first instance of the_date()). To repeat the date for posts published under the same day, you should use the Template Tag the_time() or get_the_date() (since 3.0) with a date-specific format string. Use to add the date set in the admin interface.

1. You are using query_posts which screws up the globals

2. You are echoing a function that already prints to the browser

   • You are actually doing that for all your template tags.
   • Change echo the_date(); to: echo get_the_date('F j, Y');
   • Remove the echo from your template tags that already print to the browser or use the alternate functions that return the value.

3. Use a new WP_Query or get_posts instead of query_posts

4. Read the Codex. It tells you how to use all these functions and is very helpful :)

the_date() prints the date only if the same date was not printed before.
No, that's not consistent with other similar functions. But that’s how it worked in WordPress’ ancestor b2/cafelog, and backwards compatibility always trumps logic … :)

To print the date always use get_the_date()

<?php echo get_the_date(); ?>

or

<?php echo mysql2date( get_option( 'date_format' ), $post->post_date); ?>