>>> from collections import defaultdict
>>> data = [(2010, 2), (2009, 4), (1989, 8), (2009, 7)]
>>> d = defaultdict(list)
>>> d
defaultdict(<type 'list'>, {})
>>> for year, month in data:
... d[year].append(month)
...
>>> d
defaultdict(<type 'list'>, {2009: [4, 7], 2010: [2], 1989: [8]})