The women's singles badminton tournament at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place from 24 July to 1 August at the Musashino Forest Sport Plaza at Tokyo. A total of 43 players from 37 nations competed.

Chen Yufei is a Chinese badminton player. She is the reigning Olympic champion. In her junior career, she won the girls' singles titles at the 2016 Asian and the World Junior Championships. At the same year, Chen clinched her first senior title at the Macau Open. She won a bronze medal at the 2017 World Championships and was awarded as the Eddy Choong Most Promising Player of the Year in 2017. On 17 December 2019, she reached a career-high BWF World Ranking as world number 1, and finished the year as the year-end no.1. Other achievements include winning the World Tour Finals in 2019 and silver medals at the 2022 World Championships and Asian Games.