CONNECT tracks music consumption activity: all the ways people listen to recorded music, from streams to purchases to radio airplay. But these activity types are unequal measures of listener engagement and economic value. So we use equivalent weighting to convert them into comparable units of consumption.
CONNECT applies different weighting formulas to Streams, Product Sales and Song Sales to calculate Album Equivalent and Stream Equivalent units.
All equivalents measure on-demand, official content only. Before applying the below formulas, we exclude programmed streams, interactive streams and UGC. 
Ad-supported and premium streams are weighted differently. 
Album Equivalent activity is a measure of combined weighted streaming, digital, and physical sales figures converted to one (1) album unit.
An Album Equivalent measurement combines weighted streams and song sales with traditional album sales. We track Album Equivalent activity in countries for which we have product sales data (U.S. and Canada).
1,250 premium audio or video streams = 1 album
3,750 ad-supported audio or video streams = 1 album
10 digital song sales = 1 album
1 purchased album = 1 album
Stream Equivalent activity is a measure of weighted ad-supported streams, premium streams and digital song sales converted to one (1) premium stream unit. 
Unlike Album Equivalents, Stream Equivalents treat streaming activity as the base unit of consumption. We use them to measure activity worldwide and in countries that do not provide product sales data.*
Stream Equivalent ratios assign audio and video streaming content the same weight.
4.5 ad-supported streams = 1 premium stream
1 premium stream = 1 premium stream
1/200 song sales = 1 premium stream
Premium Streams + Weighted Ad-Supported Streams + Weighted Song Sales 
= Stream Equivalent units