A magnetic recording medium characterized by comprising: a nonmagnetic substrate; and, provided on the nonmagnetic substrate in the following order, a first underlayer of a nonmagnetic material composed mainly of chromium, a second underlayer of an antiferromagnetic material, with a body-centered cubic structure, having a Neel temperature of at least 60.degree. C., the second underlayer being such that, when the crystal lattice of the antiferromagnetic material is compared with the crystal lattice in the body-centered cubic structure of the first underlayer, the length of a side of the lattice in the (100) face of the former is approximately equal to the length of a diagonal of the lattice in the (100) face of the latter, permitting the second underlayer to be epitaxially grown onto the first underlayer, and a recording layer of a magnetic material composed mainly of cobalt.