Brace yourself for some jaw-dropping hubris.
Michael Jackson is commonly known as The King of Pop.
Source: images6.fanpop.com
You might assume that people arrived at this nickname on their own because he's one of the greatest pop stars of all time, but nope. He came up with the name himself.
Source: images2.fanpop.com
The story behind the name was revealed in Rob Tannenbaum and Craig Marks' amazing oral history of the glory days of MTV.
Seriously, go buy this book right now because it is the best.
Source: 3.bp.blogspot.com
Jackson sent a memo to MTV requesting that VJs refer to him as The King of Pop in 1991. He was still the biggest star in music and the network owed him a debt of gratitude, so they went along with it.
Source: complex.com
