A magnetic recording medium comprising; a nonmagnetic support; a first under layer which is constituted by a nonmetal element, per se, a compound consisting of nonmetal elements, or a compound containing titanium and a nonmetal element; a second under layer containing at least one element selected from the group consisting of chromium, titanium, iridium, platinum, palladium, ruthenium, rhodium, rhenium and osmium; and a magnetic layer which contains a ferromagnetic metal alloy containing at least cobalt, platinum and chromium, and a nonmagnetic compound, in this order.