TikTok Cured Binge Eating
Nathan's Hot Dog Contest Winning Count vs TikTok Monthly Active Users
As TikTok users surged, competitive eating records fell. It is hard to swallow seventy-two hot dogs while filming a GRWM. Joey Chestnut was beaten by the algorithm.
“Short-form video has made sustained consumption biomechanically impossible. You cannot Renegade with a stuffed esophagus.”
— Dr. Mukbang Scroll, Behavioral Nutritionist
Why this correlation is stupid
The numbers above are real. Public data on Nathan's Hot Dog Contest Winning Count and TikTok Monthly Active Users happens to move inversely closely enough to produce r ≈ 76% (negative) — a value high enough that, in a less skeptical world, someone would file a Substack post about it. Here, it earns a chart and a chuckle.
Statisticians call this a spurious correlation: two trends that share a shape without sharing a cause. With enough variables tracked over enough years, you can find pairings like this one between almost any two phenomena. Confounding factors, common drivers (population growth, smartphone adoption, the unstoppable march of time), or pure chance can all make graphs hold hands.
Source data is drawn from public datasets. We do not endorse any causal claim — only the comedic one.
Put it on a thing
This correlation belongs on a wall, a mug, or a t-shirt. Pick your poison:
Share the nonsense
Generate your own
Download the Stupid Correlations app to discover thousands of absurd correlations on demand.
