Recent research has identified five of the "most skippable" Christmas songs.

According to FreeNow, Mariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas is You' is the Christmas song people are most are likely to skip when it comes on the radio.

In second place is Wham!'s 'Last Christmas', which is followed by Band Aid's 'Do They Know It's Christmas' in third position.

The fourth "most skippable" Christmas song according to FreeNow is 'Fairytale of New York' by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl.

Rounding out the top five list is Chris Rea's 'Driving Home for Christmas'.

On The Hard Shoulder, comedian Katherine Lynch disputed the skippable allegations against 'All I Want for Christmas is You'.

"I think it's fantastic - I love Mariah Carey, I love that song, it’s as camp as Christmas," she said.

"It wouldn’t be Christmas without listening to that song at some stage."

Ms Lynch said she "doesn't go looking" for Christmas songs, but accepts all the tunes that come her way throughout the season.

"There's something for everyone really - the rockers can listen to Slade," she said.

'Generic versions'

Comedian Steve Cummins takes a different stance.

Mr Cummins not only skips 'All I Want for Christmas is You', but all Christmas songs.

"The problem with the Christmas songs is they’re the same ones you hear every year, earlier and earlier," he said.

"Supermarkets put them on in the middle of November.

"The only thing that's worse than the Mariahs and whatever, is when you go to your supermarket and they refuse to pay royalties so you have the generic versions.”

Mr Cummins' family have used his hatred of Christmas songs for pranking purposes.

"I make no secret of the fact of how much I hate Christmas music," he said.

"Last year, my wife and sons went to the trouble of changing all the preset radio stations in my car to Christmas FM, so no matter what button I push, all I heard was the same Christmas song again and again."

You can listen back here:

Feature image of a car radio, Alamy.