diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index c4082eaa..9b02d39c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 CHANGELOG
 =========
 
+v1.8.1
+------
+* Backport fix for including VERSION file in package. See [#265](https://github.com/tilezen/tilequeue/pull/265).
+
 v1.8.0
 ------
 * Move TOI from redis to s3.
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 27f9cd32..a8fdfda1 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-1.8.0
+1.8.1