I can’t fall asleep to silence. I have to have something playing to keep me from being alone with my thoughts, or I will literally never sleep.

I have experienced this. Something that helped me is “cognitive shuffling.” Essentially forcing your thoughts to drift.

The technique I learned was this:

Pick a word, preferably one with lots of different letters.

Start with the first letter. Think of as many objects starting with that letter as you can, and picture them. You don’t need to be rigid about this, and don’t waste time trying to come up with objects if you’re stuck, just move onto the next letter. If you finish the word, pick a new one. But I don’t know that I’ve ever finished a word before falling asleep.

The idea is this sort of directed but disconnected thinking helps put your mind into the sort of state that lets sleep come. And when I’m diligent about it, it works like a charm. It’s like a way to actively fall asleep.

Unfortunately because it requires some effort I often don’t do it. But I do recommend it!