An aspect of the present invention relates to a magnetic recording medium, which comprises a magnetic layer comprising ferromagnetic powder and binder on a nonmagnetic support, wherein the magnetic layer further comprises a compound which has a weight average molecular weight of equal to or more than 1,000 but less than 20,000 and is denoted by formula (1): wherein, in formula (1), A denotes a monovalent substituent, R1 denotes a single bond or a divalent connecting group, and m denotes an integer ranging from 2 to 4, multiple instances of A and R1 that are present can be identical or different, at least one of the multiple instances of A that are present denotes a monovalent polymer group and X denotes a heterocyclic group of valence m.