A perpendicular magnetic recording medium 100 has, over a substrate, at least a magnetic recording layer 122 with a granular structure in which nonmagnetic grain boundaries are formed between magnetic grains continuously grown into a columnar shape. The magnetic grains of the magnetic recording layer 122 contain Co, Cr, and Pt. The magnetic recording layer 122 contains at least one oxide selected from a group A including SiO2, TiO2, and Cr2O3, at least one oxide selected from a group B consisting of oxides each having a larger Gibbs free energy ΔG than the group A, and a reducing agent adapted to reduce the oxides of the group B.