A magnetic recording medium exhibiting excellent recording and reproduction characteristics is disclosed. A magnetic recording medium includes a non-magnetic substrate 1; a soft magnetic undercoat film 2; an orientation-regulating film 3; a perpendicular magnetic film 4; and a protective film 5, the films being formed on the substrate 1. The soft magnetic undercoat film 2 contains a material represented by the following composition: aFe-bCo-cM-dX1-fN where M is one or more elements selected from Ti, Zr, Nb, Hf, Ta, V, and Mo; X1 is one or more elements selected from Cr, Ga, Al, Si, and Ni; and a, b, c, d, and f represent atomic percentages and satisfy the following relations: 60≦a+b≦90, 30≦a≦90, 5≦c≦20, 0.1≦d≦7, and 3≦f≦30.