| Millennium: | 1st millennium |
|---|---|
| Centuries: | 9th century – 10th century – 11th century |
| Decades: | 950s 960s 970s – 980s – 990s 1000s 1010s |
| Years: | 978 979 980 – 981 – 982 983 984 |
| 981 by topic | |
| Politics | |
| State leaders – Sovereign states | |
| Birth and death categories | |
| Births – Deaths | |
| Establishment and disestablishment categories | |
| Establishments – Disestablishments | |
| Gregorian calendar | 981 CMLXXXI |
| Ab urbe condita | 1734 |
| Armenian calendar | 430 ԹՎ ՆԼ |
| Assyrian calendar | 5731 |
| Bahá'í calendar | -863–-862 |
| Bengali calendar | 388 |
| Berber calendar | 1931 |
| English Regnal year | N/A |
| Buddhist calendar | 1525 |
| Burmese calendar | 343 |
| Byzantine calendar | 6489–6490 |
| Chinese calendar | 庚辰年十一月廿三日 (3617/3677-11-23) — to —
辛巳年十二月初三日(3618/3678-12-3) |
| Coptic calendar | 697–698 |
| Ethiopian calendar | 973–974 |
| Hebrew calendar | 4741–4742 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Vikram Samvat | 1037–1038 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 903–904 |
| - Kali Yuga | 4082–4083 |
| Holocene calendar | 10981 |
| Iranian calendar | 359–360 |
| Islamic calendar | 370–371 |
| Japanese calendar | |
| Korean calendar | 3314 |
| Minguo calendar | 931 before ROC 民前931年 |
| Thai solar calendar | 1524 |
Year 981 (CMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.