This year, the usual trio of Twitter, social networking, and alcohol led the list, with Twitter taking the #1 spot for the first time since 2021.
This report draws from 9,817 tweets, the lowest number of Tweets I’ve ever tracked and down from a high of 646,000 in 2014. It only took ten tweets to make the top 100 this year, compared to 228 that year. On the other hand, the list of items in the top 100 has remained fairly stable: 56 of the top items from 2014 are also in the 2024 list.
Relationships
With Ash Wednesday falling on Valentine’s Day this year for the first time since 2018 (next time will be 2029, and then not again until 2170), relationship-related tweets rose. This year saw an increase in “situationships,” though it didn’t reach the top 100.
Sin
Giving up sin had a big uptick this year. I don’t have an explanation.
The Press
U.S. President Joe Biden said that he was giving up “you guys” for Lent, a reference to reporters.
Taylor Swift
Only eight tweets mentioned celebrities this year; seven of them were for Taylor Swift.
Top 100 Things Twitterers Gave Up for Lent in 2024
As I write this post on Monday morning, with about 350 tweets analyzed, “social networking,” “twitter,” and “chocolate” lead the list.
This year, since it would cost me $5,000 to use Twitter’s API to track what’s previously been free for the Lent Tracker, I’m having to take a more manual and sampled approach to tweets, which also means the results won’t be available in realtime the way they have been in years past; you can expect them to be updated a few times per day.
This year, the usual trio of alcohol, Twitter, and social networking led the list, with alcohol just outpacing Twitter.
This report draws from 12,891 tweets out of 386,048 total tweets mentioning Lent.
Vegetables
The increase in “tomatoes” and “vegetables” refers to the announcement that several large grocery stores in the UK will temporarily restrict the number of tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers that customers can buy because of shortages.
Social Networks
TikTok continues its march upward, this year helped by news that some official EU bodies are banning it from staff devices. Meanwhile, Facebook continues its slide.
Hate
“Hate” and “being a hater” both had sharp increases this year, while “racism” declined.
Restaurants
Food delivery services continue to rise, while Chipotle overtakes Chick Fil A for the first time since 2016.
As I write this post, with about 660 tweets analyzed, perennial favorites “twitter,” “social networking,” and “alcohol” lead the list. Right now, “sugar” is at #5, a much-higher showing than it usually has; we’ll see if it holds its place through the week.
I expect “twitter” to run higher this year given some of its recent, polarizing decisions. Twitter has also talked about disabling its API, upon which the Twitter Lent Tracker depends, any day now, so hopefully the Tracker will survive the week.
This year, the usual trio of alcohol, Twitter, and social networking led the list, though alcohol easily outpaced Twitter this year–unlike last year, when alcohol fell behind Twitter. If you combine “baseball” and “Major League Baseball,” the combination would have ended up at #5, a reference to this year’s cancellation of the regular start of the baseball season in the U.S. As usual, there were several U.S. political issues, with “coherent speaking,” “ice cream” (up 35 places), and “the presidency” referring to Joe Biden, who landed at #97 this year. “War” came in at #52, referring to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, with “Putin,” “Russia,” “Ukraine,” and “Russian oil” also appearing near the bottom of the list. New this year is “Wordle,” a currently popular online game owned by the New York Times.
This year’s list draws from 19,411 tweets out of 389,796 total tweets mentioning Lent.
COVID-19
Most COVID-related terms declined substantially this year, aside from “masks,” which stayed relatively constant.
Social Media
TikTok finally overtook Instagram. Facebook, not on this chart, is also behind Instagram.
Restaurants
Food-delivery services like DoorDash overtook traditional fast-food restaurants this year.
Plastic
Plastic was fashionable to give up in 2018-2019, but no longer.
Top 100 Things Twitterers Gave Up for Lent in 2022
As I write this post, with about 530 tweets analyzed, perennial favorites “twitter,” “alcohol,” and “social networking” lead the list, with “masks” ranking right now at #4 (related to some countries dropping mask requirements for the COVID-19 pandemic).
This year, the usual trio of Twitter, alcohol, and social networking led the list. But current events influenced the list this year more than most. Radio personality Rush Limbaugh’s death on Ash Wednesday led many to comment that they were giving him up for Lent, landing him at #7. A major winter storm (#62, snow and #77, winter) in Texas (#34) knocked out electricity (#5), water (#35), and heat (#68) for millions of people. Finally, the global pandemic (#23, covid) elevated topics like going to the pub (#24) and suppressed others, like eating out (#75). Zoom (#63), a videoconferencing service, appeared for the first time. “Executive orders” (#53) refers to a satirical tweet about U.S. President Biden.
This year’s list draws from 24,312 tweets out of 557,560 total tweets mentioning Lent.
COVID-19
The global coronavirus pandemic led to jumps in several topics, most notably “going to the pub,” which was almost as popular as “COVID,” and was followed closely by food pickup and delivery.
Social Media
In the battle of the social networks, TikTok has almost overtaken Instagram, while Snapchat fell below Tinder. Facebook, not shown on this chart because it makes the chart harder to read, was once dominant and is now only just above Instagram.
Fast Food
Fast food is down across the board.
Top 103 Things Twitterers Gave Up for Lent in 2021
As I write this post, with about 593 tweets analyzed, perennial favorites “alcohol,” and “twitter,” and “social networking” lead the list. I expect to see tweets this year related to the global pandemic. And will TikTok make the top ten this year?
Look for the usual post-mortem on February 20, 2021.
This year alcohol topped the list for the first time since 2017, followed by social networking and Twitter. New to the top 100 this year are “trolling” (#14) and “being toxic” (#94), following Pope Francis’s call to give up online insults. Also new are “TikTok” (#33), “simping,” or acting obsequiously on TikTok (#41), “coronavirus” (#73) (related: shaking hands), and “the streets” (#95).
This year’s list draws from 35,817 tweets out of 540,684 total tweets mentioning Lent.
Plastic
Plastic has been appearing near the top of the list for the past two years as some churches, especially in the UK, have encouraged people to give it up for Lent. This year, mentions of plastic fell precipitously, suggesting that either giving it up has become less fashionable or that people inclined to give it up already did so over the past two years. In particular, "straws" received no mentions.
Social Media
As noted above, TikTok is the big winner here.
Fast Food
Chick-fil-A continues its march upward, while McDonald's continues its decline.
Top 100 Things Twitterers Gave Up for Lent in 2020
As I write this post, with about 1,200 tweets analyzed, perennial
favorites “social networking,” “alcohol,” and “twitter” lead the list. I’ve already learned a new word: simping, “the type of person who, instead of trying to attract the opposite sex through being attractive and interesting, is more sycophantic and fawning,” commonly on TikTok. It’s currently at #12, though I assume it will fall as more people start posting.
