How Americans Celebrate 420 Weed Day
Weed Day, also known as 420, has become a US national cultural holiday for cannabis fans. Americans have discovered creative and bizarre ways to celebrate this holiday, from large-scale public festivals to private smoke-outs. Each state has found its own way of marking the event. The traditions that have developed around this unofficial holiday will be explored in this article as we embark on a hilarious road trip across the nation. Get set to learn how each state celebrates its love for the green on 420, whether you’re a seasoned smoker or just someone who likes a good party.
How Did We Do?
Using Ahrefs and social media listening, we first compiled a collection of seed keywords that are broken down into these 3 categories:
- 420-related activities
- Stoner movies
- Stoner songs
We then used Google Trends to pull data on search interest for each keyword to determine: which activity is the most common in each state to celebrate 420, which stoner movie is the most famous in each state on 420, which is the most popular stoner tune in each state.
The detailed methodology is described at the end of this article.
Please keep in mind that:
- We do not include weed consumption in this analysis.
- Only data in 2022 is collected and analyzed.
How Each U.S State Celebrates 420
Music and marijuana make a perfect duo. That’s why listening to music is the most common 420 celebration activity in the United States. Sharing the same spot with “enjoying music” is “going to 420 events”. Both activities are the most popular in 9 states.
U.S. stoners appear to prefer cartoons to movies; four states choose to honor 420 by watching 420 cartoons.
Weed Day appears to be a good day to have an eternal remembrance of marijuana, so Minnesota, South Dakota, and Vermont love to get some ink on their skin on that day.
The 20th of April is also an auspicious day for stoners’ love lives: stoners in Alaska, North Dakota, and Wyoming make love, whereas those in Florida and Ohio go on dates. Furthermore, stoners in California and Texas celebrate National Weed Day by viewing porn.
Instead of dining out like many other states, potheads in Arkansas and Pennsylvania prefer to prepare their 420 meals at home.
Potheads in Washington and Wisconsin share their 420 joy not only with their stoner human pals but also with their stoner animal companion, when search interest in “420 barkbox” is at its highest.
What Each State Watches to Celebrate 420
Friday (1995) is the most-searched movie on 420 in seven states, making it the most popular movie watched by Americans on 420.
The Wash (2001), Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), and Pineapple Express (2008) followed. These three films are the most famous in two states.
What Each State Listens to for 420 Celebration
The 1970 hit by folk rock duo Brewer & Shipley, “One Toke Over The Line”, is the most popular in three states: Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Oregon.
Followed are Young, Wild & Free by Wiz Khalifa & Snoop Dogg ft. Bruno Mars, Water by Aesop Rock, Smoke Break by Chance The Rapper, Pass That Dutch by Missy Elliott, Method Man by Wu-Tang Clan, and Addicted by Amy Winehouse. They are the most-searched song in two states on 420.
Methodology
First, collect all cannabis-related terms (using Ahrefs, Google, and social media listening). These terms are then divided into the following categories:
| Movies | example: How High, Pineapple Express,… |
| Songs | example: Stay High, Mary Jane,.. |
| Activities | example:
Search term: 420 songs, weed songs -> Activity: Listening to music Search term: 420 tattoo, stoner tattoo -> Activity: Doing tattoos |
Second, we will use Google Trends to:
- Check each term to see if there is a surge in its search interest at 420. Otherwise -> Skip the term.
- Determine the ranking order of each state for each term.
- For each state, compute the average ranking of that cluster of meanings.
- Which activity cluster has the highest average ranking -> That is the most popular celebration activity in that state in 420.
*We didn’t calculate the average ranking for the keywords in categories Movies/Songs because it only takes 1 term – which is the name of the movie, song – to show the popularity of the subject.
For example: In state X, we conclude “enjoying music” is the main celebration activity because:
| Activity | Search terms | Ranking | Avg. ranking for activity |
| Enjoying music | 420 songs | 1 | 8.33 |
| weed songs | 20 | ||
| high songs | 4 | ||
| Doing tattoos | 420 tattoo | 15 | 10 |
| stoner tattoo | 5 | ||
| weed tattoo | 10 |
Fair Use Statement
Please feel free to share our findings with anyone you know who may find them useful. Our only request is that you add a link back to this page so that readers can get all of the important information and our authors may be properly credited.
