There is provided a manufacturing method of a magnetic recording medium that maintains a high level of perpendicular orientation of a perpendicular magnetic layer and enables to further increase high recording density, prepared such that at least on a non-magnetic substrate, there are laminated a soft magnetic base layer, an orientation control layer 11 that controls the orientation of the layer immediately thereabove, and a perpendicular magnetic layer with a magnetization easy axis thereof primarily oriented perpendicular to the non-magnetic substrate. The manufacturing method is characterized in that when configuring the perpendicular magnetic layer with two or more magnetic layers 12 to 14 and crystal-growing each layer so that the crystal grains that constitute the respective magnetic layers 12 to 14, together with the crystal grains that constitute the orientation control layer 11, form column-shaped crystals S1 to S3 in a consecutive manner in the thickness direction, lamination of the orientation control layer 11 is performed while the substrate is being cooled or immediately after the substrate has been cooled.