The badminton women's singles tournament at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place from 11 to 20 August at Riocentro - Pavilion 4.

[1] The event was won by then two-time reigning world champion Carolina Marín of Spain who defeated P. V. Sindhu of India in the final.

Nozomi Okuhara of Japan won the bronze medal after China's Li Xuerui was forced to withdraw.

The tournament started with a group phase round-robin followed by a knockout stage.

1 The match was scratched and Okuhara was awarded the bronze medal as Li was unable to compete due to suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and lateral meniscus in the semi-final.