The Christmas songs we all love to hate

The rest of list may just be some good-natured ribbing, but Do They Know It’s Christmas? genuinely annoys us. Yeah yeah, it raised a tonne of money for the Ethiopian famine, but this song just reeks of white smugness and racist stereotypes. One line literally goes ‘Well, tonight thank God it’s them instead of you’, for goodness’ sake. We’re going to go out on a limb here and guess that people experiencing war, famine, and disasters aren’t going to care about whether it’s Christmas time. Remember when Gal Gadot got a bunch of rich celebrity friends to sing Imagine during Covid? This song is giving those vibes.

A relatively new single to add to your overplayed playlist for the holidays. The queen of Christmas, Ms Mariah Carey, adds two angels to the Oh Santa! 2020 remix, a song that we first heard in her 2010 Xmas LP Merry Christmas II You album. The new rendition features Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson, and it’s sure to fuel you until you bid adieu to the year that was. Trust us; you will keep rewinding this tune to the moment when - sorry J-Hud – Ari and Mariah’s harmonized whistle saved the year. 

All I Want For Christmas: Mariah Carey. A classic. Play it full blast and wait to hear live singing in the background – everyone seems to know the lyrics by heart. For annoying bonus points, check out the version featuring our one and only Justin Bieber.

Speaking of Biebs, Mistletoe is probably one of the most iconic songs for Christmas. If you repeat the song long enough, and perhaps with the help of some liquid courage, you may even find yourself getting cosy with someone special underneath the mistletoe – hey, dogs and mulled wine counts too okay?!

The only Spanish Christmas song we all know by heart because the whole song basically repeats itself. Let’s be honest, repetition can get really annoying but hey, as Jose Feliciano says, Feliz Navidad - ah haaa!

No offence Santa, but when it comes to Christmas tunes, Mariah Carey is a bigger icon than you! Here’s another overplayed festive song from the singer’s catalogue that will be playing in every corner of the city come this time of year. 

A song every Hongkonger who hasn’t experienced snow sings with all their heart in hopes that it will snow at least once in their lifetime in Hong Kong. Considering the rate of global warming, it seems very unlikely, so save the Earth people!

MJ’s rendition is already one of the less snooze-worthy versions, but it definitely still leaves a drumming in our ears. We’ll be fine if we can go one Christmas without hearing this…banger. Thanks.

There are so many renditions of this song we just don’t even know where to begin. There’s Idina Menzel and Michael Bublé, John Legend and Kelly Clarkson, the Glee cast, or Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey (yup, remember that?). Still, it’s probably Loesser’s original, vaguely predatory, hit that gets the kudos. 

Ah damn, here we go again...okay screw it. Laaast Christmas I gave you my heart, but the very next day you gave it away – don’t forget the cheesy pointing and hand gestures!

Ari released this one in 2014, and today, well, it manages to climb back up the charts before each year ends. We all can’t resist asking ‘Santa, tell me if he really cares, ‘cause I can’t give it all away, if he won’t be here next year...’

This is probably a song you heard your mother play on Christmas morning when you were a child. As the song repeats and repeats, you realise somehow you only ever managed to remember the first two lines, and so you keep singing along to just that handful of lyrics until you want to rip your ears out. Sound familiar? No? Okay, just us then.

Before there was Queen Bey, we had Destiny’s Child, complete with Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams. Turn the volume up, and see if you can resist trying to Google the lyrics just to jam with the song. Ooooh, doesn’t it feel like Christmas! Yes, it feels like Christmas!