A perpendicular magnetic recording medium of the embodiments of the invention comprises a substrate, a hcp soft underlayer (SUL), and a magnetic layer, wherein the hcp SUL is adapted to create a [0002] growth orientation in the magnetic layer and to enhance a magnetic head field during writing of data to the magnetic layer; further wherein the perpendicular magnetic recording medium does not contain an interlayer (IL) that is different from the hcp SUL and provides a [0002] growth orientation in the magnetic layer.