A magnetic recording medium having excellent fly-ability and corrosion resistance is provided in a high yield by controlling protuberant on a medium surface caused by deposition of giant silicon oxide particles, which are created during the film deposition of a granular recording layer including Si and oxygen. In one embodiment of the invention, a recording layer is deposited by a sputtering method using a target which is composed of a mixture of an alloy including at least Co and powdered crystalline SiO2.