Cultural impact of Michael Jackson

American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson (1958–2009) is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th and 21st century, and one of the most successful and influential entertainers of all time.^[1][2] Often referred as the "King of Pop",^[3] his achievements helped to complete the desegregation of popular music in the United States and introduced an era of multiculturalism and integration that future generations of artists followed.^[4] His influence extended to inspiring fashion trends and raising awareness for social causes around the world, during his life Jackson was received by over 30 different world leaders.^[5][6]

Jackson became a child star in 1969 as the lead singer of the Jackson 5, a band formed with his older brothers.^[7] The group were recognized by US Congress for their contribution to American youth culture, and Jackson was embraced by the American public to a degree not afforded a child star since Shirley Temple in the 1930s.^[8] In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular culture and the first African-American entertainer to have a strong crossover fan base on music television.^[9][10] His music videos, including those for "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller" from his 1982 album Thriller, are credited with breaking racial barriers and transforming the medium into an art form and promotional tool.^[11] The popularity of these videos helped bring the television channel MTV to fame.^[12] Jackson's success at this time was credited with rescuing the music industry from its late-1970s recession, and revolutionizing it by initiating a marketing focus on blockbuster albums and video presentation.

Through his videos and live performances, Jackson popularized street dances, particularly his signature move the moonwalk, and attracted a cult of impersonators throughout the world. He is credited with helping to spread dance to a global audience and having an influence comparable to dance icons such as to Fred Astaire and Sammy Davis Jr. With an aesthetic borrowed from the musical film tradition, the Thriller videos created a subindustry of choreographers as other pop artists sought to produce sophisticated dance-oriented promotional films. In the 1980s, Jackson's personal idiosyncrasies and changing appearance became the source of fascination for the tabloid media, a phenomenon furthered by the child abuse accusations leveled against him in 1993. These eccentricities and controversies inspired a wealth of pictures and other artworks exploring his public image, which were presented in the 2018 exhibition Michael Jackson: On the Wall at London's National Portrait Gallery.

Jackson influenced a wide range of subjects, from celebrity studies to visual culture to gender and sexuality studies, and many more including ones not directly related to his profession.^[13][14] According to a study published in The Journal of Pan African Studies in 2010, his influence extended to academia, with references to the singer in literature concerning mass communications, psychology, medicine, engineering and chemistry.^[15][16][17] The British Council named Jackson on their list of "80 Moments that Shaped the World" with regard to international cultural relations.^[18]