This year, more people are giving up chocolate than anything else; last year’s favorite, school, dropped four places to #5.
Several were topical: TOPS came in at #40, referring to Louisiana’s discontinuation of the college scholarship program of that name. Presidential candidate Donald Trump came in at #82, while “running for president” came in at #84, referring to the withdrawal of candidates Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina from the race after disappointing results in New Hampshire. “Politics” came in at #91.
Big gainers this year are “indifference,” at #51, and “being petty” at #59. The former follows Pope Francis’s Lent message from last year, which a few media outlets picked up this year.
The total number of tweets, around 200,000 (with the 60,000 non-retweets specifically mentioning giving up something serving as the basis for this analysis), dropped in half from last year’s total. I don’t know whether people are using Twitter less or if Twitter is throttling the data available in their API. Either way, much less data is available this year than last.
Rank | Word | Count | Change from last year’s rank |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Chocolate | 2,235 | +1 |
2. | Social networking | 2,115 | +3 |
3. | Alcohol | 1,904 | +1 |
4. | 1,903 | -1 | |
5. | School | 1,565 | -4 |
6. | Swearing | 1,413 | 0 |
7. | Soda | 1,112 | 0 |
8. | Sweets | 1,003 | 0 |
9. | Coffee | 881 | +1 |
10. | Fast food | 870 | -1 |
11. | Meat | 793 | +3 |
12. | Sugar | 792 | +18 |
13. | Lent | 654 | 0 |
14. | 624 | +7 | |
15. | You | 607 | -3 |
16. | Bread | 603 | +3 |
17. | Pizza | 541 | +1 |
18. | Sex | 489 | -2 |
19. | College | 459 | -8 |
20. | Chips | 453 | 0 |
21. | Junk food | 439 | -4 |
22. | Homework | 410 | -7 |
23. | Beer | 369 | +3 |
24. | Boys | 367 | -2 |
25. | F***boys | 344 | +3 |
26. | Candy | 313 | -3 |
27. | Work | 301 | +2 |
28. | Starbucks | 291 | -1 |
29. | Life | 283 | +4 |
30. | Religion | 278 | -5 |
31. | Ice cream | 267 | +1 |
32. | Netflix | 255 | -8 |
33. | 243 | -2 | |
34. | Snapchat | 239 | +6 |
35. | Smoking | 225 | 0 |
36. | Cheese | 221 | +13 |
37. | Wine | 220 | -1 |
38. | Cookies | 218 | 0 |
39. | Marijuana | 193 | +3 |
40. | TOPS | 179 | |
41. | Rice | 177 | +3 |
42. | Food | 170 | +6 |
43. | Stuff | 161 | +7 |
44. | French fries | 160 | +12 |
45. | Makeup | 157 | +21 |
46. | Catholicism | 156 | +1 |
46. | Shopping | 156 | -3 |
47. | Carbs | 150 | +5 |
48. | Fried food | 137 | +11 |
48. | People | 137 | +9 |
49. | Caffeine | 133 | +18 |
50. | Red meat | 127 | +10 |
50. | Feelings | 127 | -9 |
51. | Desserts | 121 | +4 |
51. | Indifference | 121 | +124 |
51. | My phone | 121 | -6 |
52. | McDonald’s | 118 | -1 |
53. | Hope | 114 | +10 |
53. | Negativity | 114 | +15 |
54. | Masturbation | 110 | +7 |
55. | Procrastination | 109 | +9 |
56. | Complaining | 108 | +9 |
57. | Booze | 107 | +10 |
58. | Virginity | 104 | -12 |
59. | Sobriety | 103 | +5 |
59. | Being petty | 103 | +104 |
60. | Coke | 102 | -2 |
61. | Liquor | 97 | +22 |
61. | Hot Cheetos | 97 | +21 |
61. | Online shopping | 97 | +29 |
61. | Fizzy drinks | 97 | +12 |
62. | Breathing | 96 | +15 |
63. | Caring | 91 | +29 |
64. | Pasta | 90 | +29 |
64. | Dairy | 90 | +38 |
65. | Takeout | 89 | +3 |
66. | Diet coke | 86 | +9 |
67. | Chick Fil A | 84 | +4 |
68. | Chipotle | 82 | -29 |
68. | Sleep | 82 | +11 |
69. | Cake | 79 | +1 |
69. | Eating out | 79 | 0 |
70. | Pancakes | 78 | +6 |
70. | Porn | 78 | +4 |
71. | Men | 77 | +16 |
72. | Stress | 75 | +37 |
73. | Sarcasm | 71 | +15 |
74. | Taco Bell | 70 | +12 |
74. | Him | 70 | +24 |
75. | Gluten | 68 | +25 |
75. | Peanut butter | 68 | +5 |
76. | Juice | 67 | +19 |
77. | My attitude | 66 | +64 |
77. | Cruelty | 66 | |
77. | Tea | 66 | +7 |
78. | New Year’s resolutions | 64 | +20 |
79. | Christianity | 63 | +29 |
80. | Church | 62 | +21 |
81. | Sixth form | 61 | +88 |
82. | TV | 60 | +24 |
82. | Donald Trump | 60 | |
83. | Pork | 58 | +42 |
83. | A levels | 58 | +14 |
84. | Running for president | 57 | |
84. | Exercise | 57 | +16 |
85. | Lying | 55 | +41 |
86. | Everything | 52 | +24 |
86. | Being mean | 52 | +11 |
86. | Sweet tea | 52 | +5 |
87. | Studying | 51 | +24 |
88. | Chicken | 50 | +16 |
89. | Naps | 49 | +5 |
89. | Dunkin Donuts | 49 | -4 |
89. | Potatoes | 49 | +28 |
89. | God | 49 | +29 |
90. | My job | 48 | +32 |
91. | Nothing | 46 | +5 |
91. | Politics | 46 | +100 |
92. | Tinder | 44 | +41 |
93. | Laziness | 42 | +35 |
94. | Being single | 41 | +20 |
94. | Being nice | 41 | +27 |
94. | Hoes | 41 | +31 |
95. | Girls | 40 | +10 |
95. | Benefits | 40 | |
96. | Math | 39 | +10 |
96. | Selfies | 39 | -34 |
96. | Losing | 39 | +35 |
97. | Bacon | 38 | +18 |
97. | My boyfriend | 38 | +4 |
97. | Dieting | 38 | +53 |
97. | Dating | 38 | +60 |
98. | Elevators | 37 | +32 |
98. | Classes | 37 | -20 |
98. | Buying makeup | 37 | +76 |
98. | Going to school | 37 | +21 |
98. | Donuts | 37 | +8 |
98. | Plastic | 37 | +85 |
99. | Jesus | 36 | +32 |
99. | Boba | 36 | +28 |
99. | Her | 36 | +19 |
99. | Football | 36 | +83 |
99. | Trying | 36 | +54 |
99. | Snacking | 36 | +11 |
99. | My feelings | 36 | +45 |
100. | Tacos | 35 | +65 |
100. | Lint | 35 | +24 |
100. | Guys | 35 | +29 |
Social Media
Snapchat passes Instagram for the first time this year. WhatsApp continues to rank surprisingly low given its popularity.
Fast Food
Chipotle’s well-publicized food-safety woes reversed its trajectory this year.
Snack Food
Hot Cheetos show no signs of slowing down.
Boba
Boba, or bubble tea, is the new beverage of choice, apparently.
Categories
Rank | Category | Number of Tweets |
---|---|---|
1. | food | 15,459 |
2. | technology | 5,021 |
3. | habits | 4,299 |
4. | smoking/drugs/alcohol | 3,513 |
5. | school/work | 3,235 |
6. | relationship | 1,974 |
7. | irony | 1,812 |
8. | health/hygiene | 908 |
9. | sex | 902 |
10. | religion | 738 |
11. | generic | 577 |
12. | entertainment | 462 |
13. | politics | 374 |
14. | relationships | 344 |
15. | shopping | 341 |
16. | money | 147 |
17. | sports | 125 |
18. | celebrity | 78 |
19. | possessions | 70 |
20. | weather | 57 |
21. | clothes | 49 |
Media Coverage
The Lent Tracker received some media attention this year: