В MySQL вы можете отключить с помощью union all
:
(select id, category, 1990 year, `1990` data from mytable where `1990` is not null)
union all
(select id, category, 1991, `1991` from mytable where `1991` is not null)
union all
(select id, category, 1992, `1992` from mytable where `1992` is not null)
union all
(...)
order by id, category, year