Since October, Tegan and Sara’s Sainthood has been added to enough Canadians’ personal soundtracks – or at the very least, their iTunes libraries – to reach No. 1 on the country’s albums chart. But what are Tegan and Sara listening to? Sara Quin let us know what made her list of most-played tracks in 2009 – and how it happened that several selections wound up directly influencing her own sound.

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The Dream, Love vs. Money

“I can not overstate how much I love the last two Dream records,” says Sara, who explains that between the release of Tegan and Sara’s 2007 record The Con and 2009’s Sainthood, “pretty much the only music” she was listening to was R&B including Rihanna, TI -- and naturally, The Dream. “I think that they are such great songs. Great melodies. It sort of blows my brain when I listen to that record because there’s so many great hooks on them, and there’s no shame in getting a good hook with that guy.”

Whitney Houston, I Look to You

“‘Million Dollar Bill’ is the jam!’” blurts Sara of Houston’s disco-throwback comeback single. “It sounds like the Gossip. When that bassline kicks in, it really sounds like the Gossip!”

And while Sara didn’t namecheck any of the diva power ballads on I Look to You as her year-end favourites, she did mention that Houston’s inimitable talent for “throwing down” was an inspiration while writing the emotion-driven songs on Sainthood.

“I was really inspired by how people would just throw down. Like Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey: people who are like, ‘they don’t care.’ I am upset and I am singing a song. They don’t have to qualify that. They don’t have to intellectualize why they’re writing a song and I was thinking about it so much. Especially as a woman, when you write music that’s emotional or about love or romance or whatever, you do have to intellectualize it, otherwise people will be like ‘Oh, that’s just a love song, or it’s just a this song or a that song.’ But who the fuck writes about anything else?”

Rihanna, “Russian Roulette”

When we met with Sara, she’d yet to hear Rihanna’s Rated R, but on the topic of lead single “Russian Roulette,” she did have this succinct comment: “I love gunshots in music.”

“I mean I love Rihanna,” said Sara. “I’m so excited for her.”

Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion

Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest

St. Vincent, Actor

The xx, xx

“This is stressful for me, I’m thinking of my iTunes,” says Sarah, helpfully verbalizing everything that results from her mental Googling. As for the albums listed above, we’ll have to call it a four-way tie. “There was so much terrific music this year,” Sara cedes. “I think they’re all really good.”

Talk Radio

No, that’s not the name of your new favourite band that nobody’s heard of. Sara just loves talk radio, NPR specifically.

“Honest to God, what I listen to most of the time -- like we did a five hour flight yesterday and I listened to five back to back episodes of Fresh Air on NPR,” she says.

“I love talk radio! NPR, thank God for the podcasts. I’ve probably listened to every Dan Savage Lovecast podcast he has ever put out. I am not joking, that is all I listen to. Terry Gross on Fresh Air, that is all I listen to. Seriously. I listened to five hours of it yesterday. I love her, I am so stimulated by that. And it’s not just talk radio, they cover jazz and they cover film and politics and they cover actors and artists and writers. It just – blows my mind it’s so good.”