A perpendicular magnetic recording medium having good perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. The magnetic recording medium includes a tantalum (Ta) seedlayer and a ruthenium (Ru) underlayer. The magnetic recording layer can be fabricated from cobalt (Co) alloys. With the Ta seedlayer, the perpendicular anisotropy and c-axis orientation of the magnetic recording layer are greatly enhanced. Unity squareness is achievable as is a negative nucleation field. The magnetic recording medium can be formed by sputtering the various layers onto a substrate. Thus, a perpendicular magnetic recording medium suitable for mass production is provided.