Disclosed is a perpendicular magnetic recording medium including: a nonmagnetic substrate; a first underlayer formed on the nonmagnetic substrate, mainly composed of at least two kinds selected from a group consisting of Fe2O3, CO3O4, MgO, MoO3, Mn3O4, SiO2, Al2O3, TiO2, and ZrO2, and having crystal grains growing in a columnar shape and crystal grain boundaries surrounding the crystal grains; a nonmagnetic second underlayer formed on the first underlayer and having crystal grains with one of a face-centered cubic structure and a hexagonal close-packed structure growing on the crystal grains of the first underlayer; a magnetic layer formed on the second underlayer; and a protective film formed on the magnetic layer.