diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index fe0f2c32d..f7628e951 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1,8 +1,5 @@
-Release 1.8.1 (in development)
-==============================
-
-Dependencies
-------------
+Release 1.8.1 (released Sep 22, 2018)
+=====================================
 
 Incompatible changes
 --------------------
@@ -11,12 +8,6 @@ Incompatible changes
   changes in PDF, except possibly if ``\sphinxtableofcontents``, which
   contained them, had been customized in :file:`conf.py`. (refs: #5455)
 
-Deprecated
-----------
-
-Features added
---------------
-
 Bugs fixed
 ----------
 
@@ -36,9 +27,6 @@ Bugs fixed
 * #5432: py domain: ``:type:`` field can't process ``:term:`` references
 * #5426: py domain: TypeError has been raised for class attribute
 
-Testing
---------
-
 Release 1.8.0 (released Sep 13, 2018)
 =====================================
 
diff --git a/sphinx/__init__.py b/sphinx/__init__.py
index f90f5f3dc..9db04e81f 100644
--- a/sphinx/__init__.py
+++ b/sphinx/__init__.py
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ if 'PYTHONWARNINGS' not in os.environ:
 warnings.filterwarnings('ignore', "'U' mode is deprecated",
                         DeprecationWarning, module='docutils.io')
 
-__version__ = '1.8.1+'
+__version__ = '1.8.1'
 __released__ = '1.8.1'  # used when Sphinx builds its own docs
 
 #: Version info for better programmatic use.
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ __released__ = '1.8.1'  # used when Sphinx builds its own docs
 #:
 #: .. versionadded:: 1.2
 #:    Before version 1.2, check the string ``sphinx.__version__``.
-version_info = (1, 8, 1, 'beta', 0)
+version_info = (1, 8, 1, 'final', 0)
 
 package_dir = path.abspath(path.dirname(__file__))