The column structure is preferably inclined from the viewpoint of improvement in SNR. The direction of the inclination is preferably the longitudinal direction of the elongated magnetic recording medium 130. It is for the following reason that the longitudinal direction is preferred as just described. The magnetic recording medium 130 according to the present embodiment is a so-called linear recording magnetic recording medium, and the recording track is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the magnetic recording medium 130. Furthermore, the magnetic recording medium 130 according to this embodiment is also a so-called perpendicular magnetic recording medium, and from the viewpoint of recording characteristics, the crystal orientation axis of the recording layer 115 preferably heads in the vertical direction, but the crystal orientation axis of the recording layer 115 may be inclined in some cases due to the influence of the inclination of the column structure of the first base layer 132A. In the magnetic recording medium 130 for linear recording, in relation to the head magnetic field at the time of recording, the configuration in which the crystal orientation axis of the recording layer 115 is inclined in the longitudinal direction of the magnetic recording medium 130 can reduce the influence on the recording characteristics due to the inclination of the crystal orientation axis, as compared with the configuration in which the crystal orientation axis of the recording layer 115 is inclined in the width direction of the magnetic recording medium 130. In order to incline the crystal orientation axis of the recording layer 115 in the longitudinal direction of the magnetic recording medium 130, the inclination direction of the column structure of the first base layer 132A is preferably aligned in the longitudinal direction of the magnetic recording medium 130 as mentioned above.