A magnetic recording medium includes a substrate, an underlayer, and a
magnetic layer including an
alloy having a L10 type
crystal structure with a (001) orientation, wherein the substrate, the underlayer, and the
magnetic layer are stacked in this order, the underlayer includes a first underlayer, the first underlayer is a crystalline layer that includes a material containing W as a main component and a
nitride whose content ranges from 1 mol % to 80 mol %, and the
nitride includes one or more elements selected from a group consisting of Al, B, Si, Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, and W.