Over the past few weeks, MTV News has been asking some of the biggest stars in music to name their favorite artists, songs and albums of the past year. And, not surprisingly, they all kept repeating the same two words: [artist id="3061469"]"Lady Gaga."[/artist]

It's not exactly a surprise, considering that, over the past 12 months, Gaga was everywhere. Her hits topped the charts. Her tours wowed audiences. And her album (or, more specifically, albums) were in constant rotation on iPods everywhere. It's no stretch to say that in 2009, Lady Gaga was your favorite artist's favorite artist. She inspired them to write and record, to take their songs and tours to the next level. She pushed them to work harder, because they had to.

But who pushed her? We decided to find out, so on Saturday (December 19), hours before her [article id="1628611"]Monster Ball stop in San Diego[/article], MTV News sat down with the Lady herself, to get her favorite artists, albums and songs of 2009. As it turns out, she drew inspiration from the new and the old.

Artists of the Year

"First and foremost, my favorite artists of 2009 were my fans. They were my favorites because every song I did, they remade on their own, and every photograph that I took, they took their own version of it. And they remade my music videos, they designed clothes for me. They wrote poetry and made films and designed all sort of amazing paintings. They're just the most brilliant fans in the world. It's funny -- my dad was at a show the other night and afterward he said, 'Do you think your fans are smart?' and I said, 'Oh hell yeah, my fans are smart,' and he said, 'You know what, I was thinking the same thing during the show.'

"My fans are f---ing really smart. They're art students, they're club kids, and some of them are just normal, top-40-listening kids in high school who don't feel like they have an identity yet and they're searching for one. But I would say that they're my favorite artists. Then I would say Semi Precious Weapons, who are on tour with me and are my very dear and close friends. And I really love Alphabeat, they're great and they're going to come out on tour with me next year."

Album of the Year

"I really liked Morrissey's new album, [Years of Refusal.] I listened to that one a lot."

Song of the Year

"Some of the songs I really liked ... hmm. Well, I really, really love Grace Jones' most recent album, [2008's Hurricane] and a song off it called 'Corporate Cannibal.' "