I have none. I have a complex series of filters which direct mailing lists, automated emails, etc into separate labels which bypass the inbox. If it makes it to my inbox, it's important enough to be read quickly -- this generally means only about 50-100 emails a day.
Wow. 50-100? I filter down to less than 10 a day. Either I'm much more aggressive with my filtering or you are far more of an important person than I am.
In addition to my normal commit and mailing filters, I set up one filter called "Non-direct" that's effectively "something that's not addressed directly to me and doesn't fall under any other filter." That means that the only things that show up in my inbox are emails directly relevant to me.
It turns out I only get around 5 personal e-mails a day out of the 100+ I actually get. Which could be read either way :).
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.
I don't know why you're being downvoted, but I think there are quite a few of us who have at least a thousand unread messages. I have all kind of git commit messages that show up in my inbox that I don't always mark as read, not to mention all the mailing lists I subscribe to that aren't all in filters....