This dataset presents user-defined tiepoints of the manual alignment of the benthic foraminiferal δ¹⁸O record at ODP Site 980 and 981 to the benthic foraminiferal LR04 δ¹⁸O stack of Lisiecki and Raymo (2005) obtained by Middleton et al. (2024). The benthic foraminiferal δ¹⁸O record at ODP 980 is based on Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi and Cibicides kullenbergi, and was previously published (McManus et al., 1999; Flower et al., 2000; Oppo et al., 1998). The ODP Site 981 data were measured on benthic foraminifera of the genus Cibicidoides (Raymo et al., 2004). The benthic foraminiferal δ¹⁸O records of ODP Site 980 and 981 were spliced together at ~860 ka (Raymo et al., 2004).