diff --git a/gitfiti.py b/gitfiti.py
index 0c5d79aea..339de6bbb 100755
--- a/gitfiti.py
+++ b/gitfiti.py
@@ -222,17 +222,19 @@ def retrieve_contributions_calendar(username, base_url):
     return page.read().decode('utf-8')
 
 
-def find_max_daily_commits(contributions_calendar):
-    """finds the highest number of commits in one day"""
-    output = set()
-
+def parse_contributions_calendar(contributions_calendar):
+    """Yield daily counts extracted from the contributions SVG."""
     for line in contributions_calendar.splitlines():
         for day in line.split():
             if 'data-count=' in day:
                 commit = day.split('=')[1]
                 commit = commit.strip('"')
-                output.add(int(commit))
+                yield int(commit)
 
+
+def find_max_daily_commits(contributions_calendar):
+    """finds the highest number of commits in one day"""
+    output = parse_contributions_calendar(contributions_calendar)
     output = list(output)
     output.sort()
     output.reverse()
diff --git a/tests/test_find_max_daily_commits.py b/tests/test_find_max_daily_commits.py
index 25acb71dc..d8950db2e 100644
--- a/tests/test_find_max_daily_commits.py
+++ b/tests/test_find_max_daily_commits.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-from gitfiti import find_max_daily_commits
+from gitfiti import find_max_daily_commits, parse_contributions_calendar
 
 
 CONTRIBUTIONS_CALENDAR_SVG = '''\
@@ -71,5 +71,19 @@ CONTRIBUTIONS_CALENDAR_SVG = '''\
 '''
 
 
+def test_parse_contributions_calendar():
+    expected = [
+        0, 0, 0, 0, 6, 0, 0,
+        0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 6,
+        84, 16, 4, 8, 0, 0, 0,
+        0, 25, 66, 20, 10, 0, 0,
+        33, 9, 0, 0, 7,
+    ]
+
+    actual = parse_contributions_calendar(CONTRIBUTIONS_CALENDAR_SVG)
+
+    assert list(actual) == expected
+
+
 def test_find_max_daily_commits():
     assert find_max_daily_commits(CONTRIBUTIONS_CALENDAR_SVG) == 84