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
| Rank | Word | Count | Change from last year’s rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Alcohol | 1,533 | +1 |
| 2. | Social networking | 1,236 | -1 |
| 3. | 1,191 | 0 | |
| 4. | Meat | 570 | +2 |
| 5. | Chocolate | 534 | -1 |
| 6. | Lent | 468 | -1 |
| 7. | Coffee | 444 | +1 |
| 8. | Sex | 432 | +2 |
| 9. | Soda | 426 | 0 |
| 10. | Sweets | 409 | +2 |
| 11. | Swearing | 403 | -4 |
| 12. | Fast food | 356 | -1 |
| 13. | Men | 336 | +1 |
| 14. | Trolling | 330 | +106 |
| 15. | You | 294 | +3 |
| 16. | Work | 288 | -1 |
| 17. | School | 284 | -4 |
| 18. | Bread | 254 | -1 |
| 19. | Chips | 235 | +5 |
| 20. | Marijuana | 214 | +7 |
| 21. | Beer | 210 | +2 |
| 22. | Sugar | 207 | -2 |
| 23. | Catholicism | 202 | -2 |
| 24. | Religion | 198 | -7 |
| 25. | Virginity | 196 | +7 |
| 26. | Giving up things | 177 | -4 |
| 27. | Life | 165 | -2 |
| 28. | 156 | +3 | |
| 29. | 156 | -3 | |
| 30. | Starbucks | 151 | +6 |
| 31. | Smoking | 146 | +3 |
| 32. | Boys | 138 | -2 |
| 33. | TikTok | 131 | +89 |
| 34. | Candy | 122 | +1 |
| 35. | Depression | 119 | +16 |
| 36. | College | 112 | -20 |
| 37. | Liquor | 112 | +22 |
| 38. | Red meat | 106 | +5 |
| 39. | Wine | 105 | +8 |
| 40. | Carbs | 104 | +8 |
| 41. | Simping | 104 | +82 |
| 42. | Junk food | 100 | -5 |
| 43. | Homework | 100 | -3 |
| 44. | Anxiety | 97 | +9 |
| 45. | Dairy | 94 | +11 |
| 46. | Booze | 93 | +10 |
| 47. | Food | 92 | -1 |
| 48. | Fried food | 92 | +1 |
| 49. | Caffeine | 86 | +15 |
| 50. | Lying | 85 | -6 |
| 51. | Masturbation | 85 | -1 |
| 52. | People | 84 | +3 |
| 53. | Donald Trump | 84 | -10 |
| 54. | Rice | 83 | -14 |
| 55. | Cheese | 81 | -13 |
| 56. | Eating out | 78 | +3 |
| 57. | Cookies | 75 | -3 |
| 58. | Hope | 75 | -19 |
| 59. | Him | 75 | -6 |
| 60. | My job | 73 | -7 |
| 61. | Chick Fil A | 70 | +10 |
| 62. | Complaining | 67 | +10 |
| 63. | Shopping | 65 | +1 |
| 64. | Sobriety | 64 | +3 |
| 65. | Breathing | 62 | -24 |
| 66. | Negativity | 62 | -1 |
| 67. | Procrastination | 61 | -10 |
| 68. | Online shopping | 61 | 0 |
| 69. | Pizza | 60 | -15 |
| 70. | Coke | 59 | +3 |
| 71. | Feelings | 58 | +24 |
| 72. | Ice cream | 58 | -19 |
| 73. | Coronavirus | 58 | |
| 74. | Porn | 56 | +3 |
| 75. | Juice | 54 | +5 |
| 76. | Boba | 54 | -15 |
| 77. | Pussy | 52 | -3 |
| 78. | Takeout | 51 | -15 |
| 79. | Bills | 48 | -9 |
| 80. | French fries | 48 | -10 |
| 81. | Church | 46 | -8 |
| 82. | Desserts | 45 | -10 |
| 83. | Being gay | 44 | +2 |
| 84. | Pancakes | 44 | -5 |
| 85. | Being a jerk online | 44 | |
| 86. | Being single | 41 | +4 |
| 87. | Hot Cheetos | 40 | -13 |
| 88. | Cheating | 40 | -6 |
| 89. | Chicken | 39 | -8 |
| 90. | Crying | 39 | -10 |
| 91. | Living | 39 | -4 |
| 92. | Christianity | 39 | -30 |
| 93. | Gambling | 39 | +6 |
| 94. | Being toxic | 38 | +29 |
| 95. | The streets | 38 | +28 |
| 96. | Cake | 38 | -9 |
| 97. | Energy drinks | 37 | -2 |
| 98. | TV | 37 | -13 |
| 99. | Women | 37 | 0 |
| 100. | Pasta | 36 | -16 |
Top Categories
| 1. | food | 6,259 |
| 2. | technology | 3,125 |
| 3. | smoking/drugs/alcohol | 2,767 |
| 4. | relationship | 2,163 |
| 5. | habits | 1,882 |
| 6. | irony | 1,364 |
| 7. | sex | 1,019 |
| 8. | school/work | 882 |
| 9. | religion | 647 |
| 10. | health/hygiene | 352 |
| 11. | money | 259 |
| 12. | entertainment | 166 |
| 13. | politics | 162 |
| 14. | shopping | 160 |
| 15. | sports | 84 |
| 16. | weather | 18 |
| 17. | celebrity | 17 |
| 18. | clothes | 17 |
| 19. | possessions | 16 |
Media Coverage
The Lent Tracker received some media attention this year: