Find the most common element in a list

What is an efficient way to find the most common element in a Python list?

My list items may not be hashable so can’t use a dictionary.
Also in case of draws the item with the lowest index should be returned. Example:

>>> most_common(['duck', 'duck', 'goose'])
'duck'
>>> most_common(['goose', 'duck', 'duck', 'goose'])
'goose'

26 Answers
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