In perspective, the iTunes store has sold ten billion songs in total, and The Beatles is one of the most popular bands of all time, with well over a hundred songs that people actually like. Two million downloads doesn't surprise me that much.
And now having been reminded that The Beatles are now on iTunes, I'm gonna go download some.
I saw it as a non-event simply because I already have all of their records (on CD and imported into iTunes). I figured most fans would also have most if not all of their music, so availability on iTunes doesn't change things.
Although it does make it very easy to complete a library that has all but one album or similar. Would be interesting to see how many complete sets were purchased vs. individual albums or even individual songs.
I'm surprised also but I suppose it makes sense if you start thinking outside of the tech/music fan's world. The majority of the sales were singles. Even though the Beatles are probably the most popular musical act of the last 100 years the majority of people in the real world just want to hear that "nah nah nah" song. They don't know what John ate for lunch on April 3rd 1964 or how many sugars Paul liked in his tea. I'm not sure how to explain the high number of album sales other than the casual fans were digging for singles and realized they liked some of the other songs too.
And now having been reminded that The Beatles are now on iTunes, I'm gonna go download some.