>>> d
{1: 4, 2: 1, 3: 1, 4: 1, 5: 1, 6: 1, 7: 1, 8: 3, 9: 1}
>>> l = ['x', 'x', 'x', 'y', 'y', None, None, None]
>>> d = {}
>>> for i in set(l):
...   d[i] = l.count(i)
...
>>> d
{'y': 2, 'x': 3, None: 3}