Searching for "safari" does not show the Safari application in any of the visible results. I'm about 95% sure that, in previous versions, if any applications were an exact match for your search term, those would show up first.
Use Quicksilver. https://qsapp.com/
Spotlight has always been fucking useless for finding anything on Mac. Quicksilver has so many other features in addition just finding an file or folder, youcan manipulate the file, rename it, send it somewhere, copy it, etc. all kinds of plug-in for extensibility.
And it learns what you type and what you actually open, so it ranks and learns your searches.
You can also modify what the interface looks like and skin it and change the colors.