In January, Lee won his seventh Malaysia Open title by defeating Taufik Hidayat from Indonesia in the final. However, he failed to defend the Korea Open title, the world's first ever million-dollar badminton tournament, after being beaten by Lin Dan from China in three games. In March, Lee cruised into the final of the All England Open for the third consecutive time and retained his title successfully with a convincing straight games victory over Lin Dan, and was praised by prime minister Najib Tun Razak.

On Labour Day, he won his first ever India Open, and also his third consecutive Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold title a week later. Despite the fact that Lee won all the matches he played during the Sudirman Cup, Malaysia's journey ended in quarterfinals, after being beaten by South Korea 2–3. In late June, he won the Indonesia Open, becoming the first non-Indonesian player to complete the hat-trick in the tournament.

Lee's hopes of becoming the first Malaysian to win gold in the World Championships were dashed after defeat by Lin Dan in the final. Lee led for most of the match but lost two important match points in the rubber game. In September, Lee also failed to defend his Japan Open crown after defeat by China's rising star Chen Long. In October, he lost to Chen Long again in his bid for his second Denmark Open title. He won the French Open a week later. This was followed by triple semi-finals exit in the Hong Kong Open, the China Open, and the Super Series Master Finals.

2015[edit]
2011[edit]
Career[edit]
2016[edit]