According to one embodiment, a perpendicular magnetic recording medium includes a soft magnetic underlayer formed above a substrate, a lower seed layer formed above the soft magnetic underlayer, at least one upper seed layer formed above the lower seed layer, an interlayer formed above the at least one upper seed layer, a perpendicular recording layer formed above the interlayer, and a protective layer formed above the perpendicular recording layer, wherein the at least one upper seed layer comprises Ni or a Ni based alloy including N, and wherein the lower seed layer includes Ni and at least one element selected from a group consisting of: W and Cr. Other embodiments are described herein regarding perpendicular magnetic recording systems and methods of producing perpendicular magnetic media.