This is a list of winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.

Beginning with the 18th Primetime Emmy Awards, leading actresses in comedy have competed alone.

However, these comedic performances included actresses from miniseries, telefilms, and guest performers competing against main cast competitors.

Such instances are marked below: The 71st Primetime Emmy Awards were the first and, so far, only Emmys where there is no representation from any of the big four broadcast networks.