diff --git a/beets/plugins.py b/beets/plugins.py
index b3109a690..fbc863227 100755
--- a/beets/plugins.py
+++ b/beets/plugins.py
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ class BeetsPlugin(object):
             return func
         return helper
 
-_classes = set()
+_classes = []
 def load_plugins(names=()):
     """Imports the modules for a sequence of plugin names. Each name
     must be the name of a Python module under the "beetsplug" namespace
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ def load_plugins(names=()):
                 for obj in getattr(namespace, name).__dict__.values():
                     if isinstance(obj, type) and issubclass(obj, BeetsPlugin) \
                             and obj != BeetsPlugin:
-                        _classes.add(obj)
+                        _classes.append(obj)
 
         except:
             log.warn('** error loading plugin %s' % name)