I NEVER have more than 5 unread messages in my inbox. I have TONS that get filtered and archived to various labels but those are all mailing lists etc. But my inbox never has more than 5 unread messages and maybe 2-3 deal with soon messages.
Unless of course I go on vacation and then I have an hour or two to get back to NORMAL.
I user Gmail's "Priority In-box" feature and my priority section never has more than 5-10. Sometimes I let the other part get a little unruly when I am busy. I did use the option to add a section for "unread" messages before the rest of the mailbox.
Unless of course I go on vacation and then I have an hour or two to get back to NORMAL.