The invention relates to a lithium ion battery, and discloses a carbon coated lithium ion battery positive electrode material and a preparation method thereof. The method comprises the following steps: grinding and stirring a high-nickel precursor with a chemical formula of Ni0.6Co0.2Mn0.2(OH)2, a lithium source compound and an inorganic oxidant, preheating the obtained mixture, heating the preheated mixture, carrying out heat insulation, and cooling the obtained mixture after the heat insulation to obtain a precursor material; dropwise adding hydrogen peroxide to a mixture of cyclodextrin andglacial acetic acid, continuously mixing the obtained mixture, and adding glycerin and diphenylol methane in order to obtain a carbon source; and adding the precursor material to the carbon source, carrying out ultrasonic mixing, and heating and drying the finally obtained mixture. The battery positive electrode material has a high discharge capacity and good cycle performances, and long-time calcination carried out in the preparation process without carbon source coating effectively controls the consistency of the material; and the preparation method has the advantages of easily available raw materials, simplicity and high promotion application values.