The invention discloses a low-cost low-cobalt single crystal ternary positive electrode material and a preparation method thereof. The preparation method comprises the following steps: adding a nickelsource, cobalt oxide, manganese oxide, a lithium source and an M doping agent in a certain stoichiometric ratio into a grinding machine, carrying out wet grinding until the particle size of insolublesubstances is less than or equal to 0.5 mu m, and carrying out spray drying to obtain an energy-saving, low-cost and low-cobalt lithium-containing ternary precursor A; carrying out high-temperature oxygen-enriched sintering and crushing treatment on the A to obtain a high-dispersion single-crystal ternary material matrix B; and coating X with B by a dry method, carrying out solid-phase sinteringin a low-temperature air atmosphere, and carrying out crushing treatment to obtain the low-cost low-cobalt single-crystal positive electrode material. The manufacturing process is environmentally friendly, pollutant emission in the precursor preparation and product sintering process is avoided, the operation process is simple and controllable, and the cost is low. Meanwhile, double doping and surface coating are achieved, the structure of the material is stabilized, the migration speed of lithium ions on the surface of the product is increased, and residual alkali on the surface of the productis reduced. The material is high in capacity and good in cycling and high-temperature safety.