A magnetic recording medium includes a substrate, a seed layer, an under layer, and a perpendicular recording layer having a granular structure. (Ms·αδ1.5(1−Rs)0.33), Ms, and α satisfy (Ms·α·δ1.5(1−Rs)0.33)≤0.1 [μ·emu·(mm)−1.5], Ms≥450 [emu/cc], and α≥1.2. In the above formulas, Ms indicates a saturated magnetization amount, α indicates the gradient of a M-H loop around a coercive force Hc, δ indicates the thickness of the perpendicular recording layer, and Rs indicates a squareness ratio.