diff --git a/docs/user-guide/writing-your-docs.md b/docs/user-guide/writing-your-docs.md
index 4697abd5..66a10067 100644
--- a/docs/user-guide/writing-your-docs.md
+++ b/docs/user-guide/writing-your-docs.md
@@ -380,10 +380,14 @@ specific page. The following keys are supported:
     MkDocs will attempt to determine the title of a document in the following
     ways, in order:
 
-    1. A title defined in the [nav] configuration setting for a document.
-    2. A title defined in the `title` meta-data key of a document.
-    3. A level 1 Markdown header on the first line of the document body. Please note that [Setext-style] headers are not supported.
-    4. The filename of a document.
+    1.  A title defined in the [nav] configuration setting for a document.
+
+    2.  A title defined in the `title` meta-data key of a document.
+
+    3.  A level 1 Markdown header on the first line of the document body.  
+        ([Setext-style] headers are supported *only since MkDocs 1.5*.)
+
+    4.  The filename of a document.
 
     Upon finding a title for a page, MkDoc does not continue checking any
     additional sources in the above list.
diff --git a/mkdocs/structure/pages.py b/mkdocs/structure/pages.py
index b2785687..e5a95874 100644
--- a/mkdocs/structure/pages.py
+++ b/mkdocs/structure/pages.py
@@ -1,27 +1,36 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import copy
 import logging
 import os
 import posixpath
-from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, Mapping, MutableMapping
+import warnings
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, Callable, Mapping, MutableMapping
 from urllib.parse import unquote as urlunquote
 from urllib.parse import urljoin, urlsplit, urlunsplit
-from xml.etree.ElementTree import Element
+from xml.etree import ElementTree as etree
 
 import markdown
-from markdown.extensions import Extension
-from markdown.treeprocessors import Treeprocessor
+import markdown.extensions
+import markdown.postprocessors
+import markdown.treeprocessors
 from markdown.util import AMP_SUBSTITUTE
 
 from mkdocs.structure.files import File, Files
 from mkdocs.structure.toc import get_toc
-from mkdocs.utils import get_build_date, get_markdown_title, meta
+from mkdocs.utils import get_build_date, get_markdown_title, meta, weak_property
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from mkdocs.config.defaults import MkDocsConfig
     from mkdocs.structure.nav import Section
     from mkdocs.structure.toc import TableOfContents
 
+_unescape: Callable[[str], str]
+try:
+    _unescape = markdown.treeprocessors.UnescapeTreeprocessor().unescape  # type: ignore
+except AttributeError:
+    _unescape = markdown.postprocessors.UnescapePostprocessor().run
+
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -32,7 +41,8 @@ class Page:
     ) -> None:
         file.page = self
         self.file = file
-        self.title = title
+        if title is not None:
+            self.title = title
 
         # Navigation attributes
         self.parent = None
@@ -50,6 +60,7 @@ class Page:
 
         # Placeholders to be filled in later in the build process.
         self.markdown = None
+        self._title_from_render: str | None = None
         self.content = None
         self.toc = []  # type: ignore
         self.meta = {}
@@ -69,9 +80,6 @@ class Page:
     def _indent_print(self, depth=0):
         return '{}{}'.format('    ' * depth, repr(self))
 
-    title: str | None
-    """Contains the Title for the current page."""
-
     markdown: str | None
     """The original Markdown content from the file."""
 
@@ -226,11 +234,18 @@ class Page:
                 raise
 
         self.markdown, self.meta = meta.get_data(source)
-        self._set_title()
 
     def _set_title(self) -> None:
+        warnings.warn(
+            "_set_title is no longer used in MkDocs and will be removed soon.", DeprecationWarning
+        )
+
+    @weak_property
+    def title(self) -> str | None:
         """
-        Set the title for a Markdown document.
+        Returns the title for the current page.
+
+        Before calling `read_source()`, this value is empty. It can also be updated by `render()`.
 
         Check these in order and use the first that returns a valid title:
         - value provided on init (passed in from config)
@@ -238,48 +253,56 @@ class Page:
         - content of the first H1 in Markdown content
         - convert filename to title
         """
-        if self.title is not None:
-            return
+        if self.markdown is None:
+            return None
 
         if 'title' in self.meta:
-            self.title = self.meta['title']
-            return
+            return self.meta['title']
 
-        assert self.markdown is not None
-        title = get_markdown_title(self.markdown)
+        if self._title_from_render:
+            return self._title_from_render
+        elif self.content is None:  # Preserve legacy behavior only for edge cases in plugins.
+            title_from_md = get_markdown_title(self.markdown)
+            if title_from_md is not None:
+                return title_from_md
 
-        if title is None:
-            if self.is_homepage:
-                title = 'Home'
-            else:
-                title = self.file.name.replace('-', ' ').replace('_', ' ')
-                # Capitalize if the filename was all lowercase, otherwise leave it as-is.
-                if title.lower() == title:
-                    title = title.capitalize()
+        if self.is_homepage:
+            return 'Home'
 
-        self.title = title
+        title = self.file.name.replace('-', ' ').replace('_', ' ')
+        # Capitalize if the filename was all lowercase, otherwise leave it as-is.
+        if title.lower() == title:
+            title = title.capitalize()
+        return title
 
     def render(self, config: MkDocsConfig, files: Files) -> None:
         """
         Convert the Markdown source file to HTML as per the config.
         """
-        extensions = [_RelativePathExtension(self.file, files), *config['markdown_extensions']]
+        if self.markdown is None:
+            raise RuntimeError("`markdown` field hasn't been set (via `read_source`)")
 
+        relative_path_extension = _RelativePathExtension(self.file, files)
+        extract_title_extension = _ExtractTitleExtension()
         md = markdown.Markdown(
-            extensions=extensions,
+            extensions=[
+                relative_path_extension,
+                extract_title_extension,
+                *config['markdown_extensions'],
+            ],
             extension_configs=config['mdx_configs'] or {},
         )
-        assert self.markdown is not None
         self.content = md.convert(self.markdown)
         self.toc = get_toc(getattr(md, 'toc_tokens', []))
+        self._title_from_render = extract_title_extension.title
 
 
-class _RelativePathTreeprocessor(Treeprocessor):
+class _RelativePathTreeprocessor(markdown.treeprocessors.Treeprocessor):
     def __init__(self, file: File, files: Files) -> None:
         self.file = file
         self.files = files
 
-    def run(self, root: Element) -> Element:
+    def run(self, root: etree.Element) -> etree.Element:
         """
         Update urls on anchors and images to make them relative
 
@@ -335,7 +358,7 @@ class _RelativePathTreeprocessor(Treeprocessor):
         return urlunsplit(components)
 
 
-class _RelativePathExtension(Extension):
+class _RelativePathExtension(markdown.extensions.Extension):
     """
     The Extension class is what we pass to markdown, it then
     registers the Treeprocessor.
@@ -348,3 +371,32 @@ class _RelativePathExtension(Extension):
     def extendMarkdown(self, md: markdown.Markdown) -> None:
         relpath = _RelativePathTreeprocessor(self.file, self.files)
         md.treeprocessors.register(relpath, "relpath", 0)
+
+
+class _ExtractTitleExtension(markdown.extensions.Extension):
+    def __init__(self) -> None:
+        self.title: str | None = None
+
+    def extendMarkdown(self, md: markdown.Markdown) -> None:
+        md.treeprocessors.register(
+            _ExtractTitleTreeprocessor(self),
+            "mkdocs_extract_title",
+            priority=1,  # Close to the end.
+        )
+
+
+class _ExtractTitleTreeprocessor(markdown.treeprocessors.Treeprocessor):
+    def __init__(self, ext: _ExtractTitleExtension) -> None:
+        self.ext = ext
+
+    def run(self, root: etree.Element) -> etree.Element:
+        for el in root:
+            if el.tag == 'h1':
+                # Drop anchorlink from the element, if present.
+                if len(el) > 0 and el[-1].tag == 'a' and not (el.tail or '').strip():
+                    el = copy.copy(el)
+                    del el[-1]
+                # Extract the text only, recursively.
+                self.ext.title = _unescape(''.join(el.itertext()))
+            break
+        return root
diff --git a/mkdocs/utils/__init__.py b/mkdocs/utils/__init__.py
index 3eb55584..5ebf3731 100644
--- a/mkdocs/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/mkdocs/utils/__init__.py
@@ -385,13 +385,7 @@ def dirname_to_title(dirname: str) -> str:
 
 
 def get_markdown_title(markdown_src: str) -> str | None:
-    """
-    Get the title of a Markdown document. The title in this case is considered
-    to be a H1 that occurs before any other content in the document.
-    The procedure is then to iterate through the lines, stopping at the first
-    non-whitespace content. If it is a title, return that, otherwise return
-    None.
-    """
+    """Soft-deprecated, do not use."""
     lines = markdown_src.replace('\r\n', '\n').replace('\r', '\n').split('\n')
     while lines:
         line = lines.pop(0).strip()
@@ -460,6 +454,19 @@ class CountHandler(logging.NullHandler):
         return [(logging.getLevelName(k), v) for k, v in sorted(self.counts.items(), reverse=True)]
 
 
+class weak_property:
+    """Same as a read-only property, but allows overwriting the field for good."""
+
+    def __init__(self, func):
+        self.func = func
+        self.__doc__ = func.__doc__
+
+    def __get__(self, instance, owner=None):
+        if instance is None:
+            return self
+        return self.func(instance)
+
+
 def __getattr__(name: str):
     if name == 'warning_filter':
         warnings.warn(

diff --git a/mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py b/mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py
index 9ccd9ff8..30a90f68 100644
--- a/mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py
+++ b/mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import sys
 import unittest
 from unittest import mock
 
+from mkdocs.config.defaults import MkDocsConfig
 from mkdocs.structure.files import File, Files
 from mkdocs.structure.pages import Page
 from mkdocs.tests.base import dedent, load_config, tempdir
@@ -299,7 +300,84 @@ class PageTests(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(pg.parent, None)
         self.assertEqual(pg.previous_page, None)
         self.assertEqual(pg.title, 'Welcome to MkDocs')
-        self.assertEqual(pg.toc, [])
+        pg.render(cfg, fl)
+        self.assertEqual(pg.title, 'Welcome to MkDocs')
+
+    _SETEXT_CONTENT = dedent(
+        '''
+        Welcome to MkDocs Setext
+        ========================
+
+        This tests extracting a setext style title.
+        '''
+    )
+
+    @tempdir(files={'testing_setext_title.md': _SETEXT_CONTENT})
+    def test_page_title_from_setext_markdown(self, docs_dir):
+        cfg = load_config()
+        fl = File('testing_setext_title.md', docs_dir, docs_dir, use_directory_urls=True)
+        pg = Page(None, fl, cfg)
+        self.assertIsNone(pg.title)
+        pg.read_source(cfg)
+        self.assertEqual(pg.title, 'Testing setext title')
+        pg.render(cfg, fl)
+        self.assertEqual(pg.title, 'Welcome to MkDocs Setext')
+
+    @tempdir(files={'testing_setext_title.md': _SETEXT_CONTENT})
+    def test_page_title_from_markdown_stripped_anchorlinks(self, docs_dir):
+        cfg = MkDocsConfig()
+        cfg.site_name = 'example'
+        cfg.markdown_extensions = {'toc': {'permalink': '&'}}
+        self.assertEqual(cfg.validate(), ([], []))
+        fl = File('testing_setext_title.md', docs_dir, docs_dir, use_directory_urls=True)
+        pg = Page(None, fl, cfg)
+        pg.read_source(cfg)
+        pg.render(cfg, fl)
+        self.assertEqual(pg.title, 'Welcome to MkDocs Setext')
+
+    _FORMATTING_CONTENT = dedent(
+        '''
+        # Hello *beautiful* `world`
+
+        Hi.
+        '''
+    )
+
+    @tempdir(files={'testing_formatting.md': _FORMATTING_CONTENT})
+    def test_page_title_from_markdown_strip_formatting(self, docs_dir):
+        cfg = load_config()
+        fl = File('testing_formatting.md', docs_dir, docs_dir, use_directory_urls=True)
+        pg = Page(None, fl, cfg)
+        pg.read_source(cfg)
+        pg.render(cfg, fl)
+        self.assertEqual(pg.title, 'Hello beautiful world')
+
+    _ATTRLIST_CONTENT = dedent(
+        '''
+        # Welcome to MkDocs Attr { #welcome }
+
+        This tests extracting the title, with enabled attr_list markdown_extension.
+        '''
+    )
+
+    @tempdir(files={'testing_attr_list.md': _ATTRLIST_CONTENT})
+    def test_page_title_from_markdown_stripped_attr_list(self, docs_dir):
+        cfg = load_config()
+        cfg.markdown_extensions.append('attr_list')
+        fl = File('testing_attr_list.md', docs_dir, docs_dir, use_directory_urls=True)
+        pg = Page(None, fl, cfg)
+        pg.read_source(cfg)
+        pg.render(cfg, fl)
+        self.assertEqual(pg.title, 'Welcome to MkDocs Attr')
+
+    @tempdir(files={'testing_attr_list.md': _ATTRLIST_CONTENT})
+    def test_page_title_from_markdown_preserved_attr_list(self, docs_dir):
+        cfg = load_config()
+        fl = File('testing_attr_list.md', docs_dir, docs_dir, use_directory_urls=True)
+        pg = Page(None, fl, cfg)
+        pg.read_source(cfg)
+        pg.render(cfg, fl)
+        self.assertEqual(pg.title, 'Welcome to MkDocs Attr { #welcome }')
 
     def test_page_title_from_meta(self):
         cfg = load_config(docs_dir=self.DOCS_DIR)
@@ -324,6 +402,8 @@ class PageTests(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(pg.previous_page, None)
         self.assertEqual(pg.title, 'A Page Title')
         self.assertEqual(pg.toc, [])
+        pg.render(cfg, fl)
+        self.assertEqual(pg.title, 'A Page Title')
 
     def test_page_title_from_filename(self):
         cfg = load_config(docs_dir=self.DOCS_DIR)
@@ -347,7 +427,8 @@ class PageTests(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(pg.parent, None)
         self.assertEqual(pg.previous_page, None)
         self.assertEqual(pg.title, 'Page title')
-        self.assertEqual(pg.toc, [])
+        pg.render(cfg, fl)
+        self.assertEqual(pg.title, 'Page title')
 
     def test_page_title_from_capitalized_filename(self):
         cfg = load_config(docs_dir=self.DOCS_DIR)
@@ -371,7 +452,6 @@ class PageTests(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(pg.parent, None)
         self.assertEqual(pg.previous_page, None)
         self.assertEqual(pg.title, 'pageTitle')
-        self.assertEqual(pg.toc, [])
 
     def test_page_title_from_homepage_filename(self):
         cfg = load_config(docs_dir=self.DOCS_DIR)

Add support to extract underline-ish title (setext-style headings)
The util function [`get_markdown_title`](https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/blob/master/mkdocs/utils/__init__.py#L332) supports only ATX-style headers. It should also support:
```markdown
A level-one heading
===================

A level-two heading
-------------------
```
mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_page_title_from_markdown_strip_formatting mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_page_title_from_markdown_stripped_anchorlinks mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_page_title_from_markdown_stripped_attr_list mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_page_title_from_setext_markdown
mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_BOM mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_homepage mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_missing_page mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_nested_index_page mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_nested_index_page_no_parent mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_nested_index_page_no_parent_no_directory_urls mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_nested_nonindex_page mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_page_canonical_url mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_page_canonical_url_nested mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_page_canonical_url_nested_no_slash mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_page_defaults mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_page_edit_url mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_page_edit_url_warning mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_page_eq mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_page_ne mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_page_no_directory_url mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_page_render mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_page_title_from_capitalized_filename mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_page_title_from_filename mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_page_title_from_homepage_filename mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_page_title_from_markdown mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_page_title_from_markdown_preserved_attr_list mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_page_title_from_meta mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::PageTests::test_predefined_page_title mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::SourceDateEpochTests::test_source_date_epoch mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::RelativePathExtensionTests::test_absolute_link mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::RelativePathExtensionTests::test_absolute_win_local_path mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::RelativePathExtensionTests::test_bad_relative_html_link mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::RelativePathExtensionTests::test_email_link mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::RelativePathExtensionTests::test_external_link mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::RelativePathExtensionTests::test_no_links mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::RelativePathExtensionTests::test_relative_html_link mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::RelativePathExtensionTests::test_relative_html_link_hash mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::RelativePathExtensionTests::test_relative_html_link_hash_only mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::RelativePathExtensionTests::test_relative_html_link_index mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::RelativePathExtensionTests::test_relative_html_link_parent_index mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::RelativePathExtensionTests::test_relative_html_link_sub_index mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::RelativePathExtensionTests::test_relative_html_link_sub_index_hash mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::RelativePathExtensionTests::test_relative_html_link_sub_page mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::RelativePathExtensionTests::test_relative_html_link_sub_page_hash mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::RelativePathExtensionTests::test_relative_html_link_with_encoded_space mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::RelativePathExtensionTests::test_relative_html_link_with_unencoded_space mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::RelativePathExtensionTests::test_relative_image_link_from_homepage mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::RelativePathExtensionTests::test_relative_image_link_from_sibling mkdocs/tests/structure/page_tests.py::RelativePathExtensionTests::test_relative_image_link_from_subpage