| Centuries: | 5th century · 6th century · 7th century |
| Decades: | 510s 520s 530s 540s 550s 560s 570s |
| Years: | 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 |
| 542 by topic | |
| Politics | |
| State leaders – Sovereign states | |
| Birth and death categories | |
| Births – Deaths | |
| Establishment and disestablishment categories | |
| Establishments – Disestablishments | |
| Gregorian calendar | 542 DXLII |
| Ab urbe condita | 1295 |
| Armenian calendar | N/A |
| Bahá'í calendar | -1302 – -1301 |
| Bengali calendar | -51 |
| Berber calendar | 1492 |
| Buddhist calendar | 1086 |
| Burmese calendar | -96 |
| Byzantine calendar | 6050 – 6051 |
| Chinese calendar | 辛酉年十一月廿九日 (3178/3238-11-29) — to —
壬戌年十二月初九日(3179/3239-12-9) |
| Coptic calendar | 258 – 259 |
| Ethiopian calendar | 534 – 535 |
| Hebrew calendar | 4302 – 4303 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Bikram Samwat | 598 – 599 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 464 – 465 |
| - Kali Yuga | 3643 – 3644 |
| Holocene calendar | 10542 |
| Iranian calendar | 80 BP – 79 BP |
| Islamic calendar | 83 BH – 81 BH |
| Japanese calendar | |
| Korean calendar | 2875 |
| Thai solar calendar | 1085 |