diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index 8a01262ba..a443d5b70 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -12,6 +12,16 @@
 Changes
 =======
 
+Version v16.1.1 (released 2024-11-19)
+
+- communities: fix set/unset of default record community
+    * Closes https://github.com/inveniosoftware/invenio-app-rdm/issues/2869
+    * Fixes the allowed values that can be passed to set/unset the default
+      community of a record.
+    * Part of the fix is to also accept an empty string ("") as a valid
+      value when setting the "default" field, which was a currently wrong
+      behavior in some UI logic.
+
 Version v16.1.0 (released 2024-11-18)
 
 - tokens: disable "sub" verification
diff --git a/invenio_rdm_records/__init__.py b/invenio_rdm_records/__init__.py
index ccb8f1b64..aeac9e293 100644
--- a/invenio_rdm_records/__init__.py
+++ b/invenio_rdm_records/__init__.py
@@ -12,6 +12,6 @@
 
 from .ext import InvenioRDMRecords
 
-__version__ = "16.1.0"
+__version__ = "16.1.1"
 
 __all__ = ("__version__", "InvenioRDMRecords")