If you want to write a bestselling crime novel forget about artisitic merit?

I read the following in yesterday's Irish Times.

"Three years ago a novel 'written' by Katie Price outsold the entire Man Booker prize shortlist. This year's X Factor winner has sold a gargantuan amount of singles compared with the paltry amount of albums sold by Speech Debelle, last year's Mercury Prize winner. ... There is an enormous chasm between music of 'artistic merit' and stuff that actually sells by the truckload."

I'm wondering to what extent do people think this is the same with contemporary crime fiction - are there on the one hand a set of novels of relatively poor quality that sell by the truckload (along with a couple of very good books that sell in large quantities) and on the other books of great 'artistic merit' that are appreciated by a small group of aficionados but sell by the wheelbarrow load? Glen Harper over at International Noir, posting this week, seems to think there is some merits in the argument. He stated, "but then it seems that bad writing (see Dan Brown and many others) is a requirement of bestsellerdon." What do you think? If you want to write a bestselling crime novel forget about artisitic merit?

Also in the Irish Times was a review that made me wince. "If the Americans are to be believed, All About Steve is the cinematic equivalent of genital sandblasting". Ouch!